Boosting Piezo/Photo-Induced Charge Transfer of CNT/Bi(4)O(5)I(2) Catalyst for Efficient Ultrasound-Assisted Degradation of Rhodamine B

Strain-induced internal electric fields present a significant path to boosting the separation of photoinduced electrons and holes. In addition, piezo-induced positive/negative pairs could be released smoothly, taking advantage of the excellent electroconductibility of some conductors. Herein, the hybrid piezo-photocatalysis is constructed by combining debut piezoelectric nanosheets (Bi(4)O(5)I(2)) and typical conductor multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNT). The photocatalytic degradation efficiency that the hybrid CNT/Bi(4)O(5)I(2) exhibits was remarkably increased by more than 2.3 times under ultrasonic vibration, due to the piezo-generated internal electric field. In addition, the transient photocurrent spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance measurement reveal that the CNT coating on Bi(4)O(5)I(2) enhances the piezo-induced positive/negative migration. Therefore, the piezocatalytic activity of CNT/Bi(4)O(5)I(2) could be improved by three times, compared with pure Bi(4)O(5)I(2) nanosheets. Our results may offer promising approaches to sketching efficient piezo-photocatalysis for the full utilization of solar energy or mechanical vibration.