One-pot synthesis of Ru/Nb2O5@Nb2C ternary photocatalysts for water splitting by harnessing hydrothermal redox reactions

MXenes, 2D transition metal carbides/nitrides, have been demonstrated as promising platform for fabricating novel composites with interesting photo-/electrochemical properties. It is desirable to gain insights into the reactivity of MXenes, enabling the controllable transformation of MXenes. Here, a one-pot hydrothermal synthesis method of MXene-based photocatalyst is validated by harnessing the reducibility of Nb 2 CT x MXene . The origin of reducibility of Nb 2 CT x during the hydrothermal oxidation process was demonstrated as the active hydrogen produced from the water splitting in the presence of Nb 2 CT x , which reduced Ru 3+ in situ to Ru nanoparticles on Nb 2 O 5 nanowires derived from Nb 2 CT x . Compared with the traditional photo-deposition method, the chemical valance of the noble metal Ru/Pt obtained by the one-pot synthesis method was closer to the metal state, which reduced the charge transfer resistance by 82.5%. It led to the photocatalytic hydrogen production of 10.11 mmol·h −1 ·g −1 with 41.25% apparent quantum yield at 313 nm.