Enhancing production of hydrogen and simultaneous degradation of ciprofloxacin over Sn doped SrTiO3 piezocatalyst

The combination of hydrogen production from water and degradation of organic pollutants into a single reaction system is an attractive and promising solution for renewable energy generation and wastewater treatment. Herein, the piezocatalytic production of hydrogen coupled with simultaneous piezocatalytic degradation of organic antibiotic (ciprofloxacin) was successfully achieved using Sn doped SrTiO3 as the highly efficient and robust piezocatalyst through harvesting vibration energy. Results showed that 5 mol% Sn doped SrTiO3 (SrSn0.05Ti0.95O3) showed the highest piezocatalytic production rate of hydrogen (101.46 mu mol g(- 1)h(- 1)) in water. And SrSn0.05Ti0.95O3 also exhibited remarkable piezocatalytic activity in solution containing ciprofloxacin with 151.03 mu mol g(- 1)h(- 1) of H-2 evolution rate and 77.5 % of ciprofloxacin degradation efficiency within 60 min. In this process, the doping of Sn largely enlarged the distorted structure and conductivity of SrTiO3 to improve the piezocatalytic activity, and the organic ciprofloxacin mainly acted as the electron donors to synergistically improve the reduction process for H-2 evolution. This work establishes the relationships between the piezoelectric property and the piezocatalyst structure, and provides an approach of advanced piezocatalytic technology for wastewater treatment and renewable energy generation.