Artificial photosynthesis of high-valued chemicals is a promising route to alleviate global warming and energy crisis. Herein, a layered hybrid heterojunction of TiO₂/Ti₃C₂ was synthesized by a facile hydrothermal oxidation method. The TiO₂/Ti₃C₂ heterojunction was further functionalized by imine ligands and Pd nanoparticles, and used as a photocathode in CO₂ reduction for the first time. These layered TiO₂/Ti₃C₂ heterojunction materials have narrow band gap (2.1 eV), which contributes to the absorption of visible light. In the artificial photosynthetic cell of Pd/N-TiO₂/Ti₃C₂||BiVO₄, some hydrocarbon, such as formate, methanol and ethanol, were generated efficiently. The evolution rate of total hydrocarbon was as high as 73.6 μM cm⁻² h⁻¹ (36.8 mM h⁻¹ g⁻¹). The hydrogen gas can be evolved in the photoelectrocatalysis cell when the external voltage provided by Si solar cell is as low as − 0.4 V, due to the high activity of the heterojunction structure. The highest apparent light quantum efficiency of artificial photosynthesis cell was 1.78% at − 1.0 V. The carbon source of products was derived from CO₂, which was verified by ¹³CO₂ labeling experiments. The experimental results suggest that the in-situ formed TiO₂/Ti₃C₂ heterojunction materials can be employed as candidates for efficiently photoelectrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to chemical fuels.

高价值化学品的人工光合作用是缓解全球变暖和能源危机的有前途的途径。在此，通过简便的水热氧化法合成了TiO ₂ / Ti ₃ C ₂的层状杂化异质结。TiO ₂ / Ti ₃ C ₂异质结通过亚胺配体和Pd纳米粒子进一步功能化，并首次在CO ₂还原中用作光电阴极。这些层状TiO ₂ / Ti ₃ C ₂异质结材料具有窄的带隙（2.1 eV），有助于吸收可见光。在Pd / N-TiO的人造光合作用电池中₂ / Ti ₃ C ₂ || BiVO ₄，可以高效地生成一些碳氢化合物，例如甲酸盐，甲醇和乙醇。总烃的释放速率高达73.6μMcm ^-2 h ^-1（36.8 mM h ^-1 g ^-1）。当由Si太阳能电池提供的外部电压低至-0.4 V时，由于异质结结构的高活性，氢气可在光电催化电池中放出。人造光合作用电池在-1.0 V时的最高表观光量子效率为1.78％。产物的碳源来自CO ₂，经¹³ CO ₂验证标记实验。实验结果表明，原位形成的TiO ₂ / Ti ₃ C ₂异质结材料可以用作有效光电催化将CO ₂还原为化学燃料的候选材料。