Hydrothermal growth of ZnO nanoparticles on the surface of two kinds of Ti 3 C 2 co-catalysts with different interlayer spacing towards enhanced photocatalytic activity

[摘要] One of the methods for improving photocatalytic efficiency is using suitable co-catalysts which can promote the separation of photogenerated electrons and holes. In this study, a typical MXene material, layered Ti 3 C 2 , was selected as a co-catalyst and acquired by selectively etching Al element from Ti 3 AlC 2 using hydrogen fluoride (HF), and then the interlayer spacing of Ti 3 C 2 was reduced through ultrasonic oscillation treatment. By subsequent hydrothermal reactions, the ZnO nanoparticles successfully grew on the surface of two kinds of layered Ti 3 C 2 without and with ultrasonic oscillation treatment (Ti 3 C 2 and Ti 3 C 2 -U), thus yielding two ZnO/Ti 3 C 2 composite photocatalysts (ZTX and ZTUX samples), respectively. Compared with the pure ZnO, ZTX and ZTUX samples have significantly improved photocatalytic activity, which arises from the efficient separation of photogenerated electrons and holes depending on the appropriate Fermi level position of Ti 3 C 2 . Besides, the ZTUX photocatalysts on the whole exhibit higher photocatalytic activity compared with the ZTX photocatalysts, depending on narrower layer spacing of Ti 3 C 2 -U which facilitates transport of photogenerated electrons.

[学科分类] 计算机科学（综合）