Efficient electron transport by 1D CuZnInS modified 2D Ti3C2 MXene for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production

The efficiency of the photocatalytic reactionis mainly determined by the effective separation of photogenerated electron (e-) and hole (h+). As a high electrical conductivity, two-dimensional (2D) Ti3C2 MXene is widely used as an electronic transmission intermediary with a large surface area and active terminal. In this work, 1D CuZnInS are loaded on the surface of 2D Ti3C2 MXene nanosheets to compound 1D/2D CuZnInS/Ti3C2 nanocomposites with effective inhibition of charge-carrier recombination. The H2 production rate of optimized 1D/2D CuZnInS/Ti3C2 composite reached 15.24 mmol h-1 g-1, which is 4.5 times than that of pure CuZnInS (3.38 mmol h-1 g-1), and the apparent quantum efficiencies (AQEs) of composite photocatalysts can reach 0.39% and 0.24% under light irradiation at 365 nm and 420 nm wavelength, respectively. In addition, 1D/2D CuZnInS/Ti3C2 has high stability after 10 cycles. The enhanced photocatalytic performance is attributed to the large specific surface area of 2D Ti3C2 nanosheets, which facilitates the separation and transfer of photogenerated e- and h+ pairs.