Efficient interfacial charge transfer of hierarchical crinkled (2D/2D) Ti3C2Tx MXene assembled on perforated GO heterojunction for enhanced degradation of organic dye

In this research work, a simple hydrothermal technique was employed to synthesize a novel holey graphene oxide (HGO) intercalated MXene (MX) hybrid composite and utilized for the enhanced removal of methylene blue (MB) dyes by irradiation using visible light. The fabricated HGO@MX catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic activity, and the degraded efficiency achieved was around 99% for MB with a minimum irradiation time of 60 min. The HGO@MX nano-matrix has better photocatalytic action over HGO because of its increased light absorption ability, efficient charge transference, appropriate band synchronization, and less charge carrier recombination between HGO and MX. A significant number of active sites are provided on the composite surface by the synergistic interaction between HGO and MXene, which leads to outstanding photodegradation behavior and can increase the mass-transfer rates and chemical processes. The radicals the HGO@MX hybrid catalyst generates are non-toxic and effectively mineralize the selected organic dye. Additionally, HGO@MX showed great potential with 82% degradation efficiency after five repetitive runs for MB with minimal loss of catalytic activity. The as-synthesized HGO@GO catalytic material was systematically examined through SEM, TEM, XPS, XRD, FTIR, TGA-DTA, and Raman analysis. The LC-MS technique described the degradation pathway of MB and the obtained intermediates. Finally, MB dye degradation and catalytic mechanism pathways were investigated thoroughly based on the obtained experimental data. The results show that HGO@MX is a promising photocatalytic material for the oxidation of MB from the aqueous environment. The hydrothermal approach was adopted to create the hybrid photocatalyst 2D/2D holey graphene oxide on MXene, which demonstrated enhanced photocatalysis and photo endurance.