Hot Electron-Mediated Photocatalytic Degradation of Ciprofloxacin Using Au-Decorated SrTiO3- and Ti3C2 MXene-Based Interfacial Heterostructure Nanoarchitectonics

Being the most abundant and cleanest form of energy, sunlight is utilized in producing electricity, charging batteries, and more such applications. Though the earth gets a good amount of sunlight on its surface each day, only a small fraction of it gets utilized. It is still a concern for scientists to use the broad spectrum to achieve maximum performance in photocatalysis. In this work, we have developed a series of perovskite oxide (SrTiO3)- and MXene (Ti3C2)-based interfacial heterostructures and decorated them with gold nanoparticles to enable plasmon-mediated electron transfer. These interfacial ternary heterostructures have been successfully utilized for photocatalytic environmental remediation of a colorless pharmaceutical pollutant under natural sunlight irradiation. The remarkable photocatalytic performance of these heterostructures can be attributed to broad-spectrum light harvesting, good charge separation, and quick charge transport. The stability and recyclability of these photocatalysts have also been demonstrated. This work validates that a combination of multi-component interfacial heterostructures can be successfully deployed for plasmon-mediated photocatalysis even under natural sunlight irradiation.