Facile preparation of self-assembled MXene@Au@CdS nanocomposite with enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production activity

Abstract

Photocatalytic hydrogen production is considered a promising approach to generating clean sustainable energy. However, the conventional co-catalyst (e.g., Pt) used in photocatalytic hydrogen production is high-cost and difficult to obtain. Here, we designed and prepared a ternary nanocomposite MXene@Au@CdS, which can be used in the field of efficient and excellent photocatalytic hydrogen production. The MXene@Au@CdS has a hydrogen production rate of 17,070.43 µmol g−1 h−1 (tested for 2 h), which is 1.85 times that of pure CdS nanomaterials. The improved hydrogen production performance of the MXene@Au@CdS is attributed to: (i) MXene provides more active adsorption sites and reaction centers for Au and CdS nanoparticles; (ii) the synergistic effect of Au’s strong surface plasmon resonance expands the optical response range of CdS. Therefore, this work solves the problem of the solid connection between the surface functional groups of photocatalyst, and achieves rapid interface charge transfer and long-term stability during the hydrogen production.