Single-atom Pd clusters anchored on t-BaTiO3 material was synthesized using hydrothermal and ultrasonic methods for the effective piezoelectric catalytic degradation of pollutants using vibration energy. XRD patterns of BaTiO3 loaded with monoatomic Pd were obtained before and after calcining, and showed typical cubic-phase BTO. TEM and HAADF-STEM images indicated single-atom Pd clusters were successfully introduced into the BaTiO3. The piezoelectric current density of the prepared Pd-BaTiO3 binary composite was significantly higher than that of the pristine BaTiO3. Under mechanical vibration, the nanomaterial exhibited a tetracycline decomposition rate of ~95 % within 7 h, which is much higher than the degradation rate of 56.7 % observed with pure BaTiO3. Many of the piezo-induced electrons escaped to the Pd-doped BaTiO3 interface because of Pd’s excellent conductivity. Single-atom Pd clusters help promote the separation of the piezo-induced electrons, thereby achieving synergistic catalysis. This work demonstrates the feasibility of combining ultrasonic technology with the piezoelectric effect and provides a promising strategy for the development of ultrasonic and piezoelectric materials.

Cubic mesocrystal CeO2 was synthesized via a hydrothermal method with glutamic acid (C5H9NO4) as a template. The XRD pattern of a calcined sample shows the face-centered cubic fluorite structure of ceria. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and the selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern revealed that the submicron cubic mesocrystals were composed of many small crystals attached to each other with the same orientation. The UV-visible adsorption spectrum exhibited the red-shift phenomenon of mesocrystal CeO2 compared to commercial CeO2 particles; thus, the prepared materials show tremendous potential to degrade organic dyes under visible light illumination . With a concentration of a rhodamine B solution of 20 mg/L and a catalyst amount of 0.1 g/L, the reaction showed higher photocatalytic performance following irradiation with a xenon lamp (≥ 380 nm). The decoloring rate can exceed 100% after 300 min.