Construction of Bronze TiO<sub>2</sub>/Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub> MXene/Ag<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub> Ternary Composite Photocatalyst toward High Photocatalytic Performance

oleh: Yong Li, Mingqing Zhang, Yanfang Liu, Qinghua Zhao, Xin Li, Qianyu Zhou, Yuanfu Chen, Shifeng Wang

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-05-01

Deskripsi

Research has demonstrated that the formation of composites of titanium dioxide (TiO<sub>2</sub>) with silver phosphate (Ag<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub>) through the construction of heterojunctions can expand its light absorption range and suppress the recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs, thereby improving the photocatalytic performance. However, this method offers only limited performance improvements, and the composite photocatalysts are costly due to the expensive Ag<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub>. In this study, Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub> MXene, which has good hydrophilicity and excellent electrical conductivity, is first used to form Schottky junction composites with bronze TiO<sub>2</sub> (TiO<sub>2</sub>(B)) via electrostatic self-assembly. Then, Ag<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub> quantum dots were further formed on the surface of the TiO<sub>2</sub>(B)/Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub> MXene by in situ self-growth, and Ag<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub> formed heterojunctions and Schottky junctions with TiO<sub>2</sub>(B) and Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub> MXene, respectively. Finally, a ternary composite photocatalyst TiO<sub>2</sub>(B)/Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub> MXene/Ag<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub> was jointly constructed by these functional junctions. Under the synergistic effect of these functional junctions, the mobility and fast separation performance of photogenerated electron–hole pairs of the composite photocatalyst were significantly improved, the recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs was effectively suppressed, and the light absorption performance was enhanced. As a result, the composite photocatalyst exhibited excellent photocatalytic performances.