One-pot in-situ hydrothermal synthesis of CdS/Nb₂O₅/Nb₂C heterojunction for enhanced visible-light-driven photodegradation

In-situ construction of heterojunction structure on substrate material is a feasible way to improve photocatalyst performance. Herein, we employed two-dimensional (2D) Nb₂C MXene as the substrate material to construct CdS/Nb₂O₅/Nb₂C ternary heterojunction structure by the one-pot hydrothermal synthesis method. The as-prepared photocatalyst achieved 92% removal efficiency towards carbamazepine (CBZ, model pollutant) under visible light radiation for 4 h, remarkably higher than that of pure CdS (75%), because the CdS/Nb₂O₅/Nb₂C heterojunction structure significantly promoted electron-hole pair generation, separation and transfer. The 2D accordion-like Nb₂C substrate prevented the agglomeration of photocatalysts. CdS nanoparticles and Nb₂O₅ nanorods grew insert Nb₂C substrate, thus to strengthen the binding force between catalyst components and ensure that the Cd²⁺ leakage was obviously lower than the national standard of China. This work provides a feasible strategy of in-situ construction of visible-light-driven heterojunction photocatalysts on 2D MXene substrate for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of refractory organic pollutants in water.