Ti3C2 MXene derived (001)TiO2/Ti3C2 heterojunctions for enhanced visible-light photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline

As a photocatalyst , titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) suffers from the wide band gap and the quick carrier recombination process, thus leading to the inefficient use of solar energy and poor catalytic performance. Herein, in this work, TiO 2 /Ti 3 C 2 heterojunctions are designed to overcome these shortcomings via growing TiO 2 in situ on the titanium element of Ti 3 C 2 MXene . The TiO 2 /Ti 3 C 2 heterojunctions not only broaden the range of light absorption , but also hugely extend the lifetime of photogenerated carriers. Besides, the anatase TiO 2 with exposed (001) facets further enhances the catalytic properties. After optimizing the amount of TiO 2 /Ti 3 C 2 heterojunctions by controlling reaction time, 20 mg catalysts can degrade 97.6% of 30 mL tetracycline solution (15 mg/L) in 90 min under visible light . Even after five cycles, the degradation ability of TiO 2 /Ti 3 C 2 only changes from 97.6% to 94.3%. This paper offers another perspective on the synthesis of efficient and stable photocatalysts.