Enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution and photodegradation of antibiotic tetracycline in wastewater by TiO2@Ti3C2

In this paper, the TiO2@Ti3C2 heterostructure was synthesized based on the hydrothermal oxidation process. The TiO2@Ti3C2 heterostructure could improve the separation and migration efficiency of photogenerated carriers, leading to enhancing the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and photodegradation of antibiotic tetracycline (TC) in wastewater. Under optimum conditions, TiO2@Ti3C2 displayed high performance of hydrogen (H2) evolution at 2.138 mmolg−1h−1, which was 4.1 times higher than that of TiO2. Besides, the synthesized photocatalyst also can remove 90.7% TC from wastewater within 60 min. The recycling experiment demonstrated long-term stability of TiO2@Ti3C2 with more than 92% of H2 was produced and 85% of TC was removed after 3 cycles. The characterization and experiment results determined the improved photocatalytic activity of TiO2@Ti3C2 was based on excellent electronic conductivity via electron transfer carriers, slow the recombination of photogenerated carriers as well high visible light absorption range. This finding further confirmed the potential of TiO2@Ti3C2 photocatalyst for the production of H2 energy and the practical treatment of antibiotic pollutants in wastewater.