Magnetic-Field-Induced Spin Polarization Boosts Piezoelectric SrFeO₃-Catalyzed H₂O₂ Production

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Catalysis
• Surface Chemistry

Background:

• Piezoelectric catalysis offers a route to control interfacial charge transfer.
• External field manipulation of spin states is an underexplored strategy for catalysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of static magnetic fields on piezoelectric catalysis.
• To explore spin polarization as a method for modulating catalytic activity.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a piezoelectric SrFeO3 system.
• Applied static magnetic fields to induce Fe spin polarization.
• Employed X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and density functional theory (DFT) for analysis.

Main Results:

• Static magnetic fields modulated the two-electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e- ORR) kinetics via spin polarization.
• Magnetic fields lowered the energy barrier for *OOH formation and weakened the Fe-O bond.
• Achieved a peak H2O2 production of 464.56 μmol L-1 under 400 mT, a 6.5-fold increase.

Conclusions:

• Magnetic-field-assisted piezocatalysis is a versatile platform for spin-state engineering.
• Magnetic control offers a tunable alternative to chemical modification for enhancing catalytic energy conversion.