Heterostructured d‐Ti3C2/TiO2/g‐C3N4 Nanocomposites with Enhanced Visible‐Light Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production Activity

• Published in: ChemSusChem Vol. 11; no. 24; pp. 4226 - 4236
• Main Authors: Zhang, Mengyuan, Qin, Jiaqian, Rajendran, Saravanan, Zhang, Xinyu, Liu, Riping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 20.12.2018
• Subjects: 2D materials; Anatase; Carbon nitride; Charge efficiency; Current carriers; Electron transfer; graphitic carbon nitride; Heat treatment; heterostructured composites; hydrogen evolution; Hydrogen production; Nanocomposites; Photocatalysis; Solar energy conversion; Titanium dioxide
• ISSN: 1864-5631; 1864-564X
• DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201802284

The construction of a 2D–2D heterostructured composite is an efficient method to improve the photocatalytic hydrogen generation capability under visible light. In this work, simple heat treatment of a mixture of g‐C3N4 and delaminated Ti3C2 was used to prepare a series of d‐Ti3C2/TiO2/g‐C3N4 nanocomposites. The d‐Ti3C2 not only acted as the support layer and resource to glue the anatase TiO2 particles and g‐C3N4 layers together but also served as the fast electron transfer channel to improve the photogenerated charge carriers’ separation efficiency. By tuning the g‐C3N4/d‐Ti3C2 mass ratio, heating temperature and soaking time, the d‐Ti3C2/TiO2/g‐C3N4 nanocomposite 4‐1‐350‐1 achieved an excellent H2 evolution rate of 1.62 mmol h−1 g−1 driven by a 300 W Xe lamp with a 420 nm cutoff filter. The heterostructured composite photocatalyst was stable even after 3 cycles, representing excellent potential for the practical application in solar energy conversion. Heterostructured d‐Ti3C2/TiO2/g‐C3N4! The photocatalytic activities of Ti3C2 and g‐C3N4 are critically dependent on the microstructure. A facile heating treatment of the Ti3C2 and g‐C3N4 mixture is used to obtain heterostructured d‐Ti3C2/TiO2/g‐C3N4 nanocomposites (see image). The TiO2 particles and g‐C3N4 nanosheets are glued together by the delaminated Ti3C2 layers, demonstrating excellent performance in visible‐light photocatalytic H2 evolution.