Shen Shen

and 2 more

Water pollution exerts profound and far-reaching effects on human health and the global ecosystem, rising a critical challenge to sustainable development. Various methods have been developed to treat wastewater. However, traditional wastewater treatment methods fail to achieve advanced purification for organic pollutants. Therefore, photocatalytic, which represents a clean and sustainable technology with the potential to replace traditional methods, have been developed as a promising approach to treat wastewater. Nevertheless, its photocatalytic efficiency is impeded by the rapid recombination of photoinduced charges, which restricts its overall performance. Therefore, enhancing photocatalytic performance through construction of sustainable electric fields has become a key research focus. Recently, novel electronic fields, including triboelectric, piezoelectric, and pyroelectric fields, which compensate for the drawbacks of traditional electronic fields that are rely on electrode and electrolyte, offering new pathways to improve photocatalytic efficiency. In this review, the interrelations between theoretical principles and photocatalytic activity within the framework of the three electric fields are systematically discussed, encompassing their reaction mechanisms, design strategies, and catalytic ability, and various applications. A comprehensive and in-depth analysis of high-efficiency photocatalytic systems enhanced by the three electric fields is highlighted, concentrates on the design of sustainable energy conversion devices, including structural invention, material selection, mechanical forces and other influencing factors. Finally, the challenges and perspectives for enhancing photocatalysis are summarized, which provide valuable theoretical supports and experimental guidance for researchers specializing in photocatalysis, triboelectrics, piezoelectrics, pyroelectrics, and relevant fields.