Recent progress of piezoelectric materials applied in photocatalytic CO2 reduction: A review

Photocatalytic CO2 reduction is considered an emerging technology that utilizes solar energy to resolve energy crisis and environmental issues. In recent years, piezoelectric materials have attracted increasing interest in photocatalysis. The piezoelectric field generated by the stress or strain induced piezo-potential in the piezoelectric material efficiently fosters the separation and migration of charge carriers, improving photocatalytic performances significantly. In this review, the definition of piezoelectricity, the overview of piezoelectric materials, and the photocatalytic CO2 reduction principles based on piezoelectric materials are briefly introduced. In addition, optimization strategies for photocatalytic CO2 reduction based on piezoelectric materials are presented, including surface engineering, defect engineering, heterojunction construction, and introducing polarization. Finally, several prospects and recommendations of piezoelectric materials to address the issues in photocatalytic CO2 reduction are proposed. The piezoelectric materials emerge as a distinctive advantage in photocatalysis, meriting deeper and more nuanced exploration in the future.