Fluid-Induced Piezoelectric Nanostructured Membranes for Photocatalytic Degradation

Development of self-powered, highly efficient catalytic membranes for the continuous flow remediation of pharmaceutical wastewater under natural dynamic fluid conditions remains a crucial demand. Traditional photocatalytic materials suffer from bottlenecks such as rapid recombination of photogenerated charge carriers, difficulty in recovery, and deactivation under dark conditions, which severely limit their practical application efficiency. To address these challenges, this study proposes a strategy that couples fluid-induced piezoelectricity with photocatalysis within a hierarchical nanoscale architecture. Inspired by the efficient capture of mechanical energy by seaweed in flowing water, we designed and constructed a flexible, multifield synergistic piezoelectric photocatalytic membrane material. This design ensures that the piezoelectric photocatalytic membrane can remain stably suspended under both static and dynamic conditions, maximizing the utilization of both the light energy and mechanical energy to achieve highly efficient piezoelectric photocatalysis. The piezoelectric photocatalytic membrane material achieved tetracycline degradation rates of 30%, 84%, and 98% under piezoelectric, photocatalytic, and piezoelectric photocatalysis conditions, respectively. During the reaction process, the material demonstrated excellent stability and reproducibility. This work highlights the vital role of nanoscale structural engineering in constructing highly efficient, multifield-coupled functional materials for sustainable wastewater remediation.