Ultrasonic derivative catalysis for water treatment: Force-electric catalysis breaking the bottleneck of sonochemical application

Ultrasonic catalysis and derivative catalysis, namely, the catalyses formed by the conversion of force and electricity, are currently emerging in the field of environmental remediation, especially in water treatment due to clean, hygienic, and green characteristics. Advancements in force-electric catalysis (FEC) such as piezoelectric catalysis or contact electrocatalysis, provide infinite potential applications for water purification. We highlighted the recent advances in ultrasonic catalysis and derivative FEC, including the coupling construction and strengthening effect of system, the selection and design of catalytic materials, and the triggered catalytic reaction mechanism by the electron transfer process. These developments revealed that the realization forms and conversion mechanisms between energy and catalysis for pollutant removal. Moreover, we demonstrated the challenges and proposed future research strategies for ultrasonic catalysis and derivative catalysis for water treatment, e.g., focusing on vibration- induced FEC. Overall, as the clean technology of “Blue Sea” catalysis, the derivative FEC based on introduction of appropriate catalytic materials (e.g., organic polymers) to achieve inductive catalysis effect, could provide enhancements in the chem-catalysis that would enable the realization of oxidation treatment of directly generated reactive oxygen species, or obtain the coupled catalytic-oxidation process by combining with other oxidation technologies for a low-carbon and environmentally-friendly future.