MgB4 MXene-like Nanosheets for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Photocatalytic solar-energy conversion has captured extensive attention owing to its great significance in the provision of renewable energy as well as the protection of the environment. Herein, we prepare MgB 4 MXene-like nanosheets from layered two-component MgB 2 using the general procedure for MXene preparation from the MAX phase. We explored the structural, chemical, optical, and photocatalytic characteristics of boron-based MgB 4 MXene-like nanosheets. The as-obtained MgB 4 nanosheets show high, stable photocatalytic H 2 generation activities, which are attributed to numerous exposed terminal metal sites on their surface, excellent metallic-layer conductivity, and higher solar energy absorbing and harvesting capabilities. Such findings demonstrate the great promise of MgB 4 nanosheets for photocatalysis and might open up new avenues for the development of more efficient boron-based photocatalysts for applications ranging from pollutant removal to other artificial photosynthesis to fuel evolution.