Enhanced photocatalytic water oxidation by hierarchical 2D-Bi2MoO6@2D-MXene Schottky junction nanohybrid

• Published in: Chemical engineering journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996) Switzerland : 1996), 2021-01, Vol.403, p.126328, Article 126328
• Main Authors: Zuo, Gancheng, Wang, Yuting, Teo, Wei Liang, Xie, Aming, Guo, Yang, Dai, Yuxuan, Zhou, Weiqiang, Jana, Deblin, Xian, Qiming, Dong, Wei, Zhao, Yanli
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bi2MoO6 nanosheets; Hierarchical heterojunction; MXene nanosheets; Photocatalytic water oxidation; Schottky junction
• ISSN: 1385-8947; 1873-3212
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2020.126328

[Display omitted] •Bi2MoO6 is grown onto MXene to obtain hierarchical 2D-Bi2MoO6@2D-MXene nanohybrid.•The nanohybrid suppresses the agglomeration of Bi2MoO6 nanosheets in the heterojunction.•The nanohybrid improves the specific surface area to maximize the exposed activity sites.•Schottky heterojunction boosts electron transport and limits electron-hole recombination.•The nanohybrid exhibits high visible-light photocatalytic water oxidation activity. Developing stable photocatalysts with high-efficiency water oxidation is crucial for photocatalytic water splitting. Herein, Bi2MoO6 nanosheets are grown in-situ onto the surface of MXene (Ti3C2TX) nanosheets to obtain hierarchical 2D-Bi2MoO6@2D-MXene nanohybrid. The design and construction of the nanohybrid not only suppress the agglomeration of Bi2MoO6 nanosheets, but also improve the specific surface area to maximize the exposed activity sites of Bi2MoO6 nanosheets. The Schottky heterojunction, derived from the introduction of MXene nanosheets, could simultaneously boost photoinduced electron transport and limit photoexcited electron-hole recombination. As a result, the optimized nanohybrid exhibits enhanced visible-light photocatalytic water oxidation activity of 734.0 μmol h−1 g−1 (7.9 times higher than that of pristine Bi2MoO6), more photogenerated free radicals (OH and O2−) and excellent stability (16 h of cycle experiments). This work shows that the MXene-based Schottky heterojunction is a promising system for photocatalytic water splitting applications.