Haidong Yu, Hua Deng, Jincheng Wang, Xiaohe Sun, Jingyu Liu, Ping Qu, Jie Wu
Constructing Schottky heterojunctions with plasmonic components offers a promising route to enhance photocatalytic performance, yet the synergistic roles of the Schottky barrier and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in pollutant degradation remain insufficiently elucidated. Herein, a series of Ti3C2/Ag-Ag2NCN (TAN) composites with varied Ag loadings was prepared via an in situ precipitation-chemical reduction method. The pseudo-first-order rate constant of the TAN-30 heterojunction reached roughly 7.0 times the value of bare Ag2NCN, while its tetracycline degradation efficiency under visible light reached 87.0% at 240 min. Moreover, the heterojunction exhibited outstanding reusability over five successive runs. Comprehensive characterizations reveal that the Schottky barrier at the Ti3C2/Ag2NCN interface effectively suppresses photogenerated carrier recombination, while the LSPR effect of metallic Ag0 broadens the light absorption range and elevates the local surface temperature, synergistically accelerating charge migration. The dominance of h+ and •O2- among the reactive species was established by both radical trapping assays and ESR spectroscopic analysis. This work provides mechanistic insights into LSPR-enhanced Schottky heterojunctions and offers a rational design strategy for MXene-based photocatalysts toward efficient antibiotic wastewater treatment.