2D/2D/0D TiO2/C3N4/Ti3C2 MXene composite S-scheme photocatalyst with enhanced CO2 reduction activity

By F. He, Bicheng Zhu, B. Cheng, Jiaguo Yu, W. Ho, W. Macyk. 2020

761 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Herein, two-dimensional (2D) TiO2 mesoporous nanosheets with three to four C3N4 layers grown in situ are employed to design a core–shell 2D/2D van der Waals heterojunction (TiO2/C3N4). Edge-terminated zero-dimensional (0D) Ti3C2 MXene quantum dots (TCQD) are subsequently integrated in the C3N4 surface via electrostatic interactions. The constructed 2D/2D/0D TiO2/C3N4/Ti3C2 composite heterojunction photocatalyst exhibits enhanced CO2 reduction activity compared to TiO2, C3N4, TiO2/C3N4, C3N4/Ti3C2 for CO and CH4 production. A step-scheme (S-scheme) charge transfer mechanism operates for the prepared samples during CO2 reduction, as authenticated by in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance analysis. This study provides a paradigm of a rational structural design for regulating the number and type of heterointerfaces and further insights into the mechanism of multijunction photocatalysts.

Subfields: Materials Chemistry, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6ff067f4dc19a5a18c36b4e0ee062cb819ee45fa