2D MXene-Based Photocatalysts for Efficient Water Splitting and Hydrogen Evolution: A brief review

TL;DR

This review discusses recent progress in MXene-based 2D materials for photocatalytic water splitting, highlighting their potential for sustainable hydrogen production and addressing current challenges like stability and charge recombination.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of synthesis methods, electronic structures, and mechanisms of MXene photocatalysts, and outlines future research directions for large-scale hydrogen generation.

Findings

MXenes exhibit tunable electronic properties suitable for photocatalysis

Challenges include stability and charge recombination issues

Future work should focus on enhancing stability and efficiency

Abstract

Photocatalytic water splitting offers a viable and sustainable method for hydrogen production. MXenes, a class of 2D transition-metal carbides/nitrides, have emerged as potential photocatalysts and co-catalysts due to their tunable electronic properties, high conductivity, and surface functionality. This review explores recent advances in MXene-based photocatalysts for hydrogen production, discussing their synthesis, electronic structures, and photocatalytic mechanisms. The key challenges, including stability issues, charge recombination, and bandgap optimisation, are critically analysed. Finally, future research directions are outlined to improve MXene-based systems for large-scale hydrogen production.