Bronze TiO2-MXene heterostructures for dramatic enhancement of photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline under visible light

Abstract

Although TiO2 nanomaterials have been widely used for the photocatalytic degradation of antibiotic pollutants in aqueous environments under ultraviolet (UV)-light irradiation, their photocatalytic performances are still unsatisfactory under visible light because of the large band gap. Herein, the bronze TiO2-MXene (TiO2(B)-MXene) heterostructures are successfully prepared and serve as photocatalysts to degrade the tetracycline (TC) pollutants under visible light for the first time. As a result, the heterostructure photocatalysts (20 mg) realize almost ∼ 92 % degradation efficiency of TC (20 mg L-1, 100 mL) in 40 min under the irradiation of Xe lamp (300 W), attributing to the synergistic effect of MXene nanosheets and TiO2(B) nano-flowers.