Ti ₃ C ₂ MXene-Integrated MOF-Derived C, N–ZnO@BCN Nanocomposites for Enhanced Photocatalytic H ₂ O ₂ Production and H ₂ Evolution

Photocatalysis can be considered as one of the leading scientific approaches for the conversion of solar energy to chemical energy to fulfill energy requirements. Upgrading the photocatalytic activity by minimizing photoexciton recombination is a practical challenge to the scientific community. Here, we have designed a Ti 3 C 2 MXene-modified ZIF-8 MOF-derived C, N doped ZnO (CNZ)/B-doped g-C 3 N 4 (BCN) photocatalytic system via the calcination route and studied its performance toward photocatalytic H 2 evolution and H 2 O 2 production reactions. Suitable physicochemical characterizations like XRD, FT-IR, XPS, EDX, FESEM, TEM, UV–vis DRS, and PL analyses have been performed, which unveiled the successful integration of Ti 3 C 2 on binary CB (1:1). The mechanistic rationale behind meliorating the photocatalytic performance of the composite photocatalyst is primarily the well-built close contact between CNZ and BCN, observed from FESEM and HRTEM patterns. Moreover, the incorporation of multilayered Ti 3 C 2 as a cocatalyst acts as an electron acceptor and expedites the spatial charge separation process supported by PL, TRPL, and electrochemical measurements. In addition, Ti 3 C 2 MXene also provides rich active sites for eventual photocatalytic reactions. Impressively, the ternary photocatalyst CNZ/BCN/MXene (CBM- x ) shows heightened photocatalytic performance when subjected to photocatalytic H 2 O 2 production (3150.74 μmol h –1 g –1 ), which reaches nearly 2-fold improvement over the binary CB (1:1) photocatalyst. Moreover, this optimized ternary composite achieved an enhanced H 2 evolution rate of 14,495 μmol h –1 g –1 . The present work provides a highly efficient cocatalyst-integrated photocatalyst system operated through the Z-scheme mechanism for large-scale energy generation.