Engineering Compressive Strain via Oxygen Doping to Modulate the p-Band Center for Enhanced Photocatalysis and...

Developing efficient strategies to overcome catalytic performance limitations is essential for advancing photocatalytic and piezocatalysis applications. Herein, we propose a strategy that enhances catalytic performance by inducing compressive lattice strain via oxygen doping, to modulate the p-band center. Our study reveals that oxygen incorporation into CdS induces lattice contraction, leading to an upshift of the sulfur p-band center and an increased electronic density of states near the Fermi level, thereby strengthening the adsorption of reaction intermediates. Experimentally, O-doped CdS exhibits a 5.2-fold improvement in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and a 3.8-fold increase in photocatalytic degradation activity, along with a 4.3-fold enhancement in piezocatalytic degradation efficiency. This work offers a new pathway for the design of efficient and stable catalytic materials through strain engineering.