Oxygen Vacancy-Enhanced Centrosymmetric Breaking of SrFeO3-x for Piezoelectric-Catalyzed Synthesis of H2O2

Normally, only noncentrosymmetric structure of the materials can potentially be piezoelectric. Thus, it is limited in the field of piezoelectricity for the centrosymmetric structure of the material. In this work, the performance of piezoelectricity is successfully achieved from centrosymmetric SrFeO3-x by modulating oxygen vacancies, which have a surface piezoelectric potential up to 93 mV by using Kelvin-probe force microscopy (KPFM). Moreover, the piezoelectric effects of SrFeO3-x are also evaluated by piezoelectric catalytic effect and density functional theory calculations (DFT). The results show that the piezo-catalytic degradation of tetracycline reaches 96% after 75 min by ultrasonic mechanical vibration and the production of H2O2 by SrFeO3-x piezoelectric synthesis could reach 1821 mu mol L-1. In addition, the DFT results indicate that the intrinsic effect of oxygen vacancies effectively promotes the adsorption and activation of O-2 and H2O as well as intermediates and improves the piezoelectric catalytic activity. This work provides an effective basis for realizing the piezoelectricity of centrosymmetric materials and regulating the development of piezoelectric catalytic properties.

Automated summary

This work successfully achieved the piezoelectricity of centrosymmetric materials and evaluated their piezoelectric effects through experiments and calculations. The results showed that modulating oxygen vacancies can enhance the piezoelectric effects and piezoelectric catalytic activity. This work is of great significance for realizing the piezoelectricity of centrosymmetric materials and regulating the development of piezoelectric catalytic properties.