Microwave-Assisted Hydrothermal Synthesis of Photocatalytic Truncated-Bipyramidal TiO2/Ti3CN Heterostructures Derived from Ti3CN MXene

Author

Muhammad Abiyyu Kenichi Purbayanto
Madhurya Chandel
Dominika Bury
Anna Wójcik
Dorota Moszczyńska
Anika Tabassum
Vadym Mochalin, Missouri University of Science and TechnologyFollow
Michael Naguib
Agnieszka Maria Jastrzębska

Abstract

TiO₂/MXene heterostructure has garnered significant interest as a photocatalyst due to its large surface area and efficient charge carrier separation at the interface. However, current synthesis methods produce TiO₂ without clear crystal faceting and often require complicated postprocessing step, limiting its practical applications. We demonstrate a facile and controlled microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis for transforming multilayered Ti₃CN MXene to a truncated-bipyramidal TiO₂/Ti₃CN heterostructure. The resulting TiO₂ nanocrystals at the Ti₃CN surface exhibited crystalline anatase truncated bipyramids, exposing {001} and {101} facets. We further tailored an indirect optical band gap of the TiO₂/Ti₃CN heterostructure in the range of 3.17-3.23 eV by varying the hydrothermal synthesis time from 15 min to 5 h at a fixed temperature of 160 °C. Efficient charge separation allowed us to decompose 97% of methylene blue (MB) within 30 min of ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation, ∼3.9-fold faster than the benchmark P25, higher than any other TiO₂/MXene heterostructures. With simulated white light, we achieved over 60% efficiency of the dye decomposition within 2 h of irradiation, which resulted in 1.5-fold faster kinetics than P25. We also observed a similar excellent performance of Ti₃CN-derived TiO₂ in decomposing various persistent synthetic dyes, including commercial textile dye, methyl orange, and rhodamine B. In conclusion, our study provides a strategy for utilizing MXene chemical reactivity to produce highly crystalline optically active TiO₂/Ti₃CN heterostructure. The developed heterostructure can serve as an efficient photocatalyst for the degradation of organic pollutants.

Recommended Citation

M. A. Purbayanto et al., "Microwave-Assisted Hydrothermal Synthesis of Photocatalytic Truncated-Bipyramidal TiO2/Ti3CN Heterostructures Derived from Ti3CN MXene," Langmuir, vol. 40, no. 41, pp. 21547 - 21558, American Chemical Society, Oct 2024.

The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c02444

Department(s)

Chemistry

Comments

Narodowe Centrum Nauki, Grant UMO-2022/45/N/ST5/02472

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1520-5827; 0743-7463

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2024 American Chemical Society, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

15 Oct 2024

PubMed ID

39363639