Ti3C2 MXene embellished g-C3N4 nanosheets for improving photocatalytic redox capacity

The development of efficient photocatalyst is critical for the practical application of photocatalysis. Herein, Ti3C2 MXenes, a kind of 2D-layered material, is successfully coupled with g-C3N4 sheets under ultrasound irradiation. A series of characterization methods are adopted for the investigation of the obtained samples. The consequences reflect that for the successful formation of 2D/2D schottky junction and a new Ti-N bond between g-C3N4 and Ti3C2. Moreover, photocatalytic measurements demonstrate Ti3C2 MXenes is an efficient activator for g-C3N4 to promote its photocatalytic reactivity. The photocatalytic fixation of N-2 tests manifest that the optimized sample of TC-CN-1 (g-C3N4 with the 1 wt% Ti3C2 MXene loading) shows the highest generation yield of NH4+ (601 umol L-1.gcat(-1).h(-1)), which is 3.64-fold higher than that of pristine g-C3N4 (203 umol L-1.gcat(-1).h(-1)). Furthermore, the Ti3C2/g-C3N4 show superior photocatalytic conversion of CO2 to CO or CH4 yields than that of g-C3N4. Besides, the photocatalytic degradation measurements show that only 33.6% of levofloxacin can be decomposed by pristine g-C3N4, while the removal ratio of levofloxacin reaches 72% for g-C3N4 with 1 wt% loading of Ti3C2 MXene under visible light illumination for 30 min. The photocatalytic improvements are confirmed to benefit from the faster separation of photogenerated electrons and holes, higher light response ability, and more active sites. This study demonstrates that Ti3C2/g-C3N4 schottky junction is a promising photocatalyst for the photocatalytic nitrogen fixation, and antibiotics degradation. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The coupling of Ti3C2 MXenes with g-C3N4 forming the Ti3C2/g-C3N4 schottky junction demonstrates superior performance in photocatalytic nitrogen fixation and antibiotics degradation.