Impact of stirring regime on piezocatalytic dye degradation using BaTiO3 nanoparticles

• Published in: Nano energy 2023-11, Vol.116, p.108794, Article 108794
• Main Authors: Prasanna, Guru, Nguyen, Hoang-Duy P., Dunn, Steve, Karunakaran, Akalya, Marken, Frank, Bowen, Chris R., Le, Bao-Ngoc T., Nguyen, Hoang-Duy, Pham, Thuy-Phuong T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Barium titanate; Degradation; Piezocatalysis; Stirring
• ISSN: 2211-2855
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2023.108794

There is increasing demand to use readily accessible waste energy to drive environmentally friendly processes. Piezocatalysis, the process of converting mechanical energy such as vibration into a chemical process, is a breakthrough next generation approach to meet this challenge. However, these systems currently focus on using ultrasound to drive the chemical reaction and are therefore expensive to operate. We show that by using simple mechanical stirring and BaTiO3 particles we can remove Rhodamine B dye molecules from solution. After evaluating a range of stirring parameters, we demonstrate that there is an interplay between stirring speed, volume of liquid, catalyst structure and rate of dye removal. Our maximum degradation rate was 12.05 mg. g−1 catalyst after 1 h of mechanical stirring at favourable conditions. This development provides a new insight into a low energy physical technique that can be used in environmental remediation processes. [Display omitted] •An increase in tetragonality leads to an improved piezocatalytic activity of BaTiO3.•BaTiO3 showed highest degradation ability at lowest RhB volume in the presence of air due to the absence of stern layer.•The highest RhB degradation capacity of piezocatalyst BaTiO3 in this work was 12.05 mg. g-1.h-1.•BaTiO3 shows comparable piezocatalytic activity to other piezocatalysts and photocatalysts made by more complex procedures.•The use of low-energy stirring is potentially compatible with a range of high energy-consumed processes.