V2C MXene–modified g-C3N4 for enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

Increasing the efficiency of charge transfer and separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers are still the main challenges in the field of semiconductor-based photocatalysts. Herein, we synthesized g-C 3 N 4 @V 2 C MXene photocatalyst by modifying g-C 3 N 4 using V 2 C MXene. The prepared photocatalyst exhibited outstanding photocatalytic performance under visible light. The degradation efficiency of methyl orange by g-C 3 N 4 @V 2 C MXene photocatalyst was as high as 94.5%, which is 1.56 times higher than that by g-C 3 N 4 . This was attributed to the V 2 C MXene inhibiting the rapid recombination of photogenerated carriers and facilitating rapid transfer of photogenerated electrons (e − ) from g-C 3 N 4 to MXene. Moreover, g-C 3 N 4 @V 2 C MXene photocatalyst showed good cycling stability. The photocatalytic performance was higher than 85% after three cycles. Experiments to capture free radicals revealed that superoxide radicals (·O 2 − ) are the main contributors to the photocatalytic activity. Thus, the proposed g-C 3 N 4 @V 2 C MXene photocatalyst is a promising visible-light catalyst.