Natural day–night temperature variations driving pyrocatalytic wastewater treatment and CO2 reduction based on room-temperature rhombohedral–tetragonal phase transition of lead-free ferroelectric BZT-0.5BCT fibers

Environmental remediation approaches in terms of wastewater treatment and CO2 reduction using environmental energy are highly desirable for an industrialized society. Herein, the pyrocatalytic performance of electrospun lead-free ferroelectric Ba(Ti0.8Zr0.2)O3-x(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3 (BZT-xBCT, x = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6) micro-nano fibers is investigated, and BZT-0.5BCT is identified as an efficient pyrocatalyst for water pollutants decomposition driven by rhombohedral–tetragonal (R-T) phase transition. Phase changes can induce high pyroelectric coefficients. In response to 0–60 °C thermal cycles, the decomposition ratio of Rhodamine B (RhB) by BZT-0.5BCT fibers after nine thermal cycles is approximately 70%. Moreover, under outdoor day-night temperature fluctuations, about 76% of RhB and 95% of methylene blue (MB) can be degraded after 10 and 7 days respectively because BZT-0.5BCT has an R-T phase change point of around 30 °C. For Cr(VI) (potassium dichromate) and tetracycline (TE), the fibers also show good pyrocatalytic degradation ability. Due to destruction of bacterial cell membranes by superoxide groups, high levels of antimicrobial activity could also be achieved against Escherichia coli (99.99%) and Staphylococcus aureus (92.83%). Furthermore, the pyrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to acetaldehyde by BZT-0.5BCT can reach approximately 382.47 μmol g−1 after 20 thermal cycles of 0–60 °C. Therefore, such outstanding catalytic performance of pyroelectric BZT-0.5BCT fibers enables pyroelectric catalysis as a potential approach for both all-round wastewater treatment and CO2 reduction. [Display omitted] •By the pyroelectric effect of BZT-0.5BCT NFs, water pollutants have been degraded under room temperature fluctuation.•Under natural environment, 76% of RhB and 95% of MB (5 mg L−1) can be degraded after 10 and 7 days, respectively.•Over 90% of E. coli and S. aureus could be killed at a fluctuating temperature of 24–37 °C.•Other water pollutants, tetracycline and Cr(Ⅵ), can be successfully degraded by pyrocatalysis.•A green approach to degrade water pollutants driven by natural temperature variation is provided.