High-energy ball milling assisted one-step preparation of g-C3N4/TiO2@Ti3C2 composites for effective visible light degradation of pollutants

Degradation and mineralization of pollutants has attracted great interest because of its ability to resolve some global environmental water-related issue. In this study, we synthesized ternary Z-type photocatalytic materials g-C3N4/TiO2@Ti3C2 with multilayer Ti3C2 as the carrier, loaded with g-C3N4 and in situ oxidized TiO2 by one-step calcination assisted by high-energy ball milling using g-C3N4 precursors (CAM) and MXene as raw materials. The influence of Ti3C2 addition and calcination temperature on the degradation efficiency of the composites were explored. Also, phase composition, microscopic morphology and optical properties of the g-C3N4/TiO2@Ti3C2 ternary composites were characterized. When Ti3C2 was added at 60 mg, the calcination temperature was 580 °C, composites showed eximious catalytic activity with Methyl Orange (MO) degradation rate, which is 3.62 times that of g-C3N4 and 6.60 times as that of Ti3C2. The improvement in photocatalytic performance is formed due to Z-type heterojunctions in the composites, and the close connect among the multilayer Ti3C2, perforated g-C3N4 flake with huge specific surface area and oxidation-generated TiO2 promotes the separation of photocatalytic carriers and the catalytic reaction. In addition, Ti3C2 acts as a transport medium for the Z-type heterojunction structure, further promoting phototransfer of electrons. This project shows that the g-C3N4/TiO2@Ti3C2 composites have prominent development prospects and provide an important reference for the design of ternary heterojunction materials.