MXene Ti3C2 decorated g-C3N4/ZnO photocatalysts with improved photocatalytic performance for CO2 reduction

Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 is considered as a kind of promising technologies for solving the greenhouse effect. Herein, a novel hybrid structure of g-C3N4/ZnO/Ti3C2 photocatalysts was designed and fabricated to investigate their abilities for CO2 reduction. As demonstration, heterojunction of g-C3N4/ZnO can improve photogenerated carriers’ separation, the addition of Ti3C2 fragments can further facilitate the photocatalytic performance from CO2 to CO. Hence, g-C3N4/ZnO/Ti3C2 has efficiently increased CO production by 8 and 12 times than pristine g-C3N4 and ZnO, respectively. Which is ascribed to the photogenerated charge migration promoted by metallic Ti3C2. This work provides a guideline for designing efficient hybrid catalysts on other applications in the renewable energy fields.