Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange dye by TiC-TiO heterojunction under solar light.

Photocatalytic activity is a feasible solution to tackle environmental pollution caused by industrial pollutants. In this research, TiC-TiO composite with a unique structure was fabricated successfully via a hydrothermal method. Especially, the in-situ transformation of TiO from TiC MXene creates an intimate heterostructure, which leads to prolonging separation and migration of charged carriers. Thus, this TiC-TiO composite enhances effectively methyl orange (MO) degradation efficiency (around 99%) after 40 light-exposed minutes. Besides, the optimal concentration of MO solution was estimated at 40 mg/L and TiC-TiO photocatalyst also exhibited good stability after five runs. Moreover, the radical trapping test and the MO photodegradation mechanism over TiC-TiO system were also demonstrated. This research illustrates the potential of MXenes as effective co-catalysts for photocatalysis and extends the applications of two-dimensional materials.