Harnessing the Power of Light: The Synergistic Effects of Crystalline Carbon Nitride and Ti3C2Tx MXene in Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

Abstract

Abstract Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution is an environmentally friendly means of energy generation. Although g‐C3N4 possesses fascinating features, its inherent shortcomings limit its photocatalytic applications. Therefore, modifying the intrinsic properties of g‐C3N4 and introducing cocatalysts are essential to ameliorate the photocatalytic efficiency. To achieve this, metal‐like Ti3C2Tx is integrated with crystalline g‐C3N4 via a combined salt‐assisted and freeze‐drying approach to form crystalline g‐C3N4/Ti3C2Tx (CCN/TCT) hybrids with different Ti3C2Tx loading amounts (0, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 1, 5, 10 wt.%). Benefiting from the crystallization of CN, as evidenced by the XRD graph, and the marvelous conductivity of Ti3C2Tx supported by EIS plots, CCN/TCT/Pt loaded with 0.5 wt.% Ti3C2Tx displays an elevated H2 (2) should be subscripted evolution rate of 2651.93 µmol g−1 h−1 and a high apparent quantum efficiency of 7.26% (420 nm), outperforming CN/Pt, CCN/Pt, and other CCN/TCT/Pt hybrids. The enhanced performance is attributed to the synergistic effect of the highly crystalline structure of CCN that enables fleet charge transport and the efficient dual cocatalysts, Ti3C2Tx and Pt, that foster charge separation and provide plentiful active sites. This work demonstrates the potential of CCN/TCT as a promising material for hydrogen production, suggesting a significant advancement in the design of CCN heterostructures for effective photocatalytic systems.

Keywords

• carbon nitride
• crystallinity
• hydrogen production
• MXene
• photocatalyst