Oxygen-vacancy-embedded 2D/2D NiFe-LDH/MXene Schottky heterojunction for boosted photodegradation of norfloxacin

Abstract Herein, we have successfully constructed an oxygen-vacancy-embedded NiFe-LDH/Ti3C2Tx MXene 2D/2D sheet-like heterostructure that can serve as efficient photocatalysts for the elimination of norfloxacin (NOR) from water, with a 3.8-fold increased degradation kinetics over that of bare NiFe-LDH. Detailed exploration has proven that hybridization of MXene not only extends the light absorption in the visible region, but also mitigate the recombination of photogenerated charge carriers, where electrons rapidly transfer from NiFe-LDH to Ti3C2Tx MXene and are further retained because of the formed Schottky barrier. Moreover, the active oxygen species (ROSs) involved in the photodegradation have been identified to be h+, ∙O2– and ∙OH. This work may contribute to the remediation of aquatic environment by removing hazardous chemical pollutants from the perspective of material advances.