Issue 17, 2019

2D/2D heterojunction of Ti3C2/g-C3N4 nanosheets for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water has received enormous attention due to its ability to address a number of global environmental and energy-related issues. Here, we synthesize 2D/2D Ti3C2/g-C3N4 composites by electrostatic self-assembly technique and demonstrate their use as photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution under visible light irradiation. The optimized Ti3C2/g-C3N4 composite exhibited a 10 times higher photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance (72.3 μmol h−1 gcat−1) than that of pristine g-C3N4 (7.1 μmol h−1 gcat−1). Such enhanced photocatalytic performance was due to the formation of 2D/2D heterojunctions in the Ti3C2/g-C3N4 composites. The intimate contact between the monolayer Ti3C2 and g-C3N4 nanosheets promotes the separation of photogenerated charge carriers at the Ti3C2/g-C3N4 interface. Furthermore, the ultrahigh conductivity of Ti3C2 and the Schottky junction formed between g-C3N4/MXene interfaces facilitate the photoinduced electron transfer and suppress the recombination with photogenerated holes. This work demonstrates that the 2D/2D Ti3C2/g-C3N4 composites are promising photocatalysts thanks to the ultrathin MXenes as efficient co-catalysts for photocatalytic hydrogen production.

Graphical abstract: 2D/2D heterojunction of Ti3C2/g-C3N4 nanosheets for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 Gen. 2019
Accepted
31 Gen. 2019
First published
21 Cʼhwe. 2019

Nanoscale, 2019,11, 8138-8149

Author version available

2D/2D heterojunction of Ti3C2/g-C3N4 nanosheets for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

T. Su, Z. D. Hood, M. Naguib, L. Bai, S. Luo, C. M. Rouleau, I. N. Ivanov, H. Ji, Z. Qin and Z. Wu, Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 8138 DOI: 10.1039/C9NR00168A

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