Preparation of TiO₂ Supported Mxene Catalyst for High Efficiency Hydrogen Production

Abstract

We studied a method to prepare a novel titanium dioxide (TiO₂) composite photocatalyst, starting from improving the separation efficiency of photogenerated electrons and holes. Regular TiO₂ microspheres were prepared by sol-gel method and loaded onto Ti₃C₂T _x (Mxene). The high electrical conductivity of Mxene was utilized to transfer photogenerated electrons quickly and effectively prevent their recombination. By adjusting the addition amount of Mxene, the hydrogen production efficiency of the sample was greatly improved, and the maximum efficiency reached 135.2 µmol·g⁻¹·h⁻¹, which was twice that of pure TiO₂. The nanocomposites were characterized by XRD, PL, TEM and SEM analysis and electrochemical methods, and the test proved that the improvement of hydrogen production efficiency was caused by the improvement of the separation efficiency of photogenerated electrons and holes. This work demonstrates the application of Mxene as a catalyst to improve efficiency and broadens the application prospects of Mxene.

Keywords

TiO₂ / Mxene / hydrogen production / photocatalysis

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