Promoting carrier separation efficiently by macroscopic polarization charges and interfacial modulation for photocatalysis

Extraction or injection of charges through the interface in hybrid catalysts is a fascinating strategy for steering charge carrier transfer in solar energy conversion applications. Instead of interfacial charges regulation, we adopt intrinsic spontaneous polarization-modulated internal electric field to drive photo-generated carriers separation and transfer in both the bulk and surface for photocatalysis. Herein, we first report a series of nano-composites made of perovskite   ferroelectric BiFe 0.9 Mn 0.1 O 3 and orthorhombic phase α-MoO 3 semiconductor (BFMO- x M, x  = 0, 5%, 10%, 15%) via two-step thermal synthesis method. With ×  = 10%, the heterostructure exhibits significantly enhancement of optical response and photo-decomposion tetracycline capacity under sunlight compared with pure BFMO and M. The improved photocatalysis is attributed to the superimposed actions of the Z-scheme charge transfer through interface and the polarization field in BFMO for the anti-recombination of photo-excited electron-hole pairs. This work indeed offers a strategic design over multicomponent catalyst by consider the synergy of polarization charges and interfacial charge transmission for solar energy conversion.