Mechanically driven water splitting over piezoelectric nanomaterials

The steady increase in energy consumption and associated environmental pollution caused by fossil fuel combustion has prompted an urgent transition toward clean and renewable energy technologies. Water splitting using renewable energy provides a simple and green approach to generate hydrogen, one of the most promising clean fuels. Piezoelectrics, which can directly convert mechanical energy into charges, represents a unique candidate material system for driving water splitting reactions by harvesting various forms of mechanical energy sources, such as vibrations, stirring, water flow, and ultrasonication. Exploring efficient piezoelectric-based nanostructured catalytic materials is the key to achieving high water splitting efficiency. In this review, we describe the basic principles and summarize the state-of-the-art strategies for designing and engineering high-performance piezocatalysts, aiming to stimulate further development of this emerging research filed.