One-step in-situ construction of Cu2O/Ti3C2Tx@TiO2 enabling interfacial photothermal reforming of MeOH/H2O into H2

Herein, Cu 2 O/Ti 3 C 2 T x @TiO 2 is designed by facile one-step strategy of glucose oxidation–reduction reaction for efficient H 2 production from the photothermal-driven reforming of methanol solution (PTRM). At 210 °C, the high H 2 production rate of 87404.0 μmol g cat −1  h −1 (apparent quantum efficiency of 20.6 % at 550 nm) over Cu 2 O/Ti 3 C 2 T x @TiO 2 under photothermal-driven condition is roughly 4 times that of the single thermal condition. The excellent photothermal H 2 yield activity over Cu 2 O/Ti 3 C 2 T x @TiO 2 is attributed to effectively separate carriers and reduced activation energy due to the synergistic effect of light and heat (55.05 kJ·mol −1 ) comparing to pure thermal condition (88.29 kJ·mol −1 ), which led to achieve low-temperature H 2 evolution at 95 °C. Additionally, this work demonstrates the excellent photothermal stability of Cu 2 O/Ti 3 C 2 T x @TiO 2 under without KOH condition (average rate 2383.2 μmol g cat −1  h −1 in 72 h), and a total turnover number (TON) up to 1373.