Effectively harvesting light to generate long-lived charge carriers to suppress the recombination of electrons and holes is crucial for photocatalytic pollutant removal and water-splitting.
Herein, a heterostructure comprised of highly active {001} facets of TiO2 nanosheets and layered Ti3C2 was synthesized by a facile hydrothermal partial oxidation of Ti3C2. The charge separation is substantially promoted by hole trapping effect of 2D Ti3C2 acting as a reservoir of holes. The improved charge separation and exposed active facets dramatically boost the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange dye.
Furthermore, we deposited ultrafine Cu particles on {001} surfaces of TiO2 through photoreduction. The holes and electrons photogenerated on {001} surfaces of TiO2 were separated by Ti3C2 and Cu particles, respectively, thereby enhanced the activity of water-splitting to produce hydrogen. This work opens a new window exploiting 2D MXenes to high performance functional photocatalysts for energy and environmental applications.
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