Tailoring Co-Catalysts in Pd Quantum-Dots-Functionalized BiFeO₃ Nanorods for Enhanced Piezocatalytic Hydrogen...

Piezocatalytic hydrogen evolution holds significant promise for addressing the global energy crisis by converting mechanical energy directly into chemical fuel. However, developing efficient noble-metal quantum-dot-functionalized piezocatalysts and understanding their underlying mechanisms remains challenging. Herein, a specially designed mechanical energy conversion platform based on the co-catalyst-modified Pd quantum-dots-functionalized bismuth ferrite nanorods (Pd-BFO) is constructed via a facile combined electrospinning-chemical reduction method and tailored for unlocking efficient piezocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The optimized Pd-BFO with ultra-low loading of 0.5 wt% Pd quantum dot (Pd-QDs) achieves a superior piezocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate of 4253.44 μmol g^-1 h^-1, outperforming most recently reported piezocatalysts. The exceptional piezocatalytic performance of Pd-BFO is attributed to synergistic effects of the intrinsic ferroelectric of BFO, efficient interfacial charge transfer dynamic, and the abundant reactive sites provided by Pd-QDs. Furthermore, density functional theory calculations reveals that the Pd-QDs optimize the d-band center toward more negative level, thereby lowering the overall Gibbs free energy of hydrogen evolution. These factors collectively facilitate the highly reactive piezocatalytic hydrogen evolution of Pd-BFO. This study provides both theoretical and experimental insights into the facile design of high-performance piezocatalysts via co-catalyst modifying of low loading noble mental quantum-dots, offering a feasible strategy to advance practical piezocatalytic HER.