Interface engineering enhancing superior catalytic activity of BiFeO3/Bi2S3 Z-scheme heterojunctions through multimodal energy harvesting

The discharge of toxic pollutants and the abuse of antibiotics present significant risks to both global food safety and public health. The utilization of clean mechanical energy for catalytic degradation has been demonstrated as a promising approach to overcome prevalent obstacles. In this work, we employ the approach of manipulating carrier separation through interface engineering to boost the piezocatalytic performance of BiFeO 3 (BFO). Specifically, a Z -scheme heterojunction is established with BFO by utilizing energy band-matching Bi 2 S 3 (BS). In contrast to the pure BFO (1.49 × 10 −2  min −1 ) and BS (1.64 × 10 −2  min −1 ), the BFO/BS heterojunction demonstrates a notable enhancement in piezocatalytic performance, reaching 3.56 × 10 −2  min −1 . This enhancement is believed to be due to the presence of a polarization field facilitating band tilt and the construction of Z -scheme heterojunction. Following the implementation of light assistance, the piezocatalytic efficiency of BFO/BS is enhanced to a greater extent (6.07 × 10 −2  min −1 ), attributing to the enhanced separation of photogenerated carriers facilitated by the piezoelectric polarization field. This study not only demonstrates the potential of BFO/BS as a catalytic candidate material by multimodal renewable energy harvesting, but also offers insights for the strategy of enhancing catalytic activity through interface engineering.