Highly piezoelectric lead-free ceramic powder: An efficient and eco-friendly multifunctional photocatalyst

Abstract Wet chemical process is difficult to synthesize piezophotocatalyst with a designed composition especially for alkali-based piezoelectric materials, which limits the optimization of the piezoelectric response. Here, by directly using solid-state synthetic lead-free (K0.48Na0.52)NbO3-(Bi0.5Na0.5)ZrO3 piezoelectric ceramic powder with specific cuboid shape, we report for the first time an efficient oxidative desulfurization where about 92.3% of dibenzothiophene is removed within 2h under ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) light irradiation. Moreover, completely organic degradation of the Rhodamine B (RhB) within 10 min under UV–vis light irradiation can be achieved by using slightly Ag-decorated powders. The main reason for this novel multipiezophotocatalytic ability is partially due to the high piezoelectric energy into chemical transformations and partially due to the cuboid morphology with exposed high active surface. The strategy in this work is expected to drive the discovery of a family of promising multi-piezophotocatalysts with high efficiency, low-cost, and large-scale fabrication ability.