Polarization-enhanced photocatalytic activity in non-centrosymmetric materials based photocatalysis: A review

•Recent advances in non-centrosymmetric (NCS) photocatalytic materials are reviewed.•Intrinsic polarization and its role in photocatalysis are throughly illustrated.•Polarization and relevant physical properties are profoundly collrelated.•Strategies towards improving polarization are systematically reviewed.•Challenges and prospects of NCS photocatalytic materials are discussed. The conversion of solar energy into chemical energy through semiconductor-based photocatalysis technology is an appealing strategy towards resolving the energy crisis and environmental pollution issues. However, the practical application of photocatalysis is impeded by its limited photocatalytic efficiency due to the intrinsic nature of photocatalysts, i.e., recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes. To this end, non-centrosymmetric (NCS) based photocatalytic materials including piezoelectrics, pyroelectrics, ferroelectrics and nonlinear optical (NLO) materials are attractive, which can not only convert mechanical energy and temperature fluctuation in the environment besides solar energy into secondary energy, but can also promote the separation of photogenerated charge carriers due to their built-in electric field resultant polarization, thus greatly improving their photocatalytic performance. Here, we first surveyed the recent advances in of NCS-based photocatalytic materials. Further, the correlation of their polarization-related physical properties with their photocatalytic activities and the strategies towards improving polarization of NCS materials were systematically summarized and highlighted, aiming to clarify the correlation of the improvement of polarization with the enhanced photocatalytic performance. Subsequently, the photocatalytic mechanism and multiple applications of photocatalysis in environmental remediation and energy conversion based on NCS materials were presented. Meanwhile, we discussed the remaining challenges for NCS materials and strategies for enhancing their photocatalytic efficiency. Finally, the development trend and future perspectives of NCS photocatalytic materials in environmental chemical engineering is presented.