Ultrathin ZnIn2S4 Nanosheets Anchored on Ti3C2TX MXene for Photocatalytic H2 Evolution

Abstract

Photocatalysts derived from semiconductor heterojunctions that harvest solar energy and catalyze reactions still suffer from low solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency. Now, MXene (Ti3C2TX) nanosheets (MNs) are used to support the in situ growth of ultrathin ZnIn2S4 nanosheets (UZNs), producing sandwich-like hierarchical heterostructures (UZNs-MNs-UZNs) for efficient photocatalytic H-2 evolution. Opportune lateral epitaxy of UZNs on the surface of MNs improves specific surface area, pore diameter, and hydrophilicity of the resulting materials, all of which could be beneficial to the photocatalytic activity. Owing to the Schottky junction and ultrathin 2D structures of UZNs and MNs, the heterostructures could effectively suppress photoexcited electron-hole recombination and boost photoexcited charge transfer and separation. The heterostructure photocatalyst exhibits improved photocatalytic H-2 evolution performance (6.6 times higher than pristine ZnIn2S4) and excellent stability.