Titania Composites with 2D Transition Metal Carbides as Photocatalysts for Hydrogen Production under Visible-Light Irradiation

MXenes, a family of two-dimensional transition-metal carbides, were successfully demonstrated as co-catalysts with rutile TiO2 for visible-light-induced solar hydrogen production from water splitting. The physicochemical properties of Ti3C2Tx MXene coupled with TiO2 were investigated by a variety of characterization techniques. The effect of the Ti3C2Tx loading on the photocatalytic performance of the TiO2/Ti3C2Tx composites was elucidated. With an optimized Ti3C2Tx content of 5wt%, the TiO2/Ti3C2Tx composite shows a 400% enhancement in the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction compared with that of pure rutile TiO2. We also expanded our exploration to other MXenes (Nb2CTx and Ti2CTx) as co-catalysts coupled with TiO2, and these materials also exhibited enhanced hydrogen production. These results manifest the generality of MXenes as effective co-catalysts for solar hydrogen production.