Here, ultrathin cobalt carbide (Co₂C) nanosheets are firstly illustrated as effective and robust catalysts toward photothermal degradation of sulfur mustard simulants (e.g., 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide, CEES) under solar light. Under the optimal conditions, the degradation rate of CEES by Co₂C nanosheets is up to 98 %, which is much higher than the widely used P25 and anatase TiO₂ nanoparticles. Moreover, the degradation performance is comparable or even better than those typical photothermal catalysts, including MnO₂, MnO_x-TiO₂ and Co₃O₄, under identical conditions. Experimental evidences and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the superior activity is attributed to three main reasons: (i) the high photo-to-heat conversion efficiency of Co₂C enables an elevated surface temperature for chemical bond breaking, (ii) the feasible binding of CEES on Co₂C surface via CoS and CoCl coordination promotes the process of degradation, and (iii) the surface hydroxyl groups (OH) on Co₂C nanosheets favor the degradation of CEES. Obviously, this work provides new insights into practical and large-scale application of transition metal carbides (TMCs) as novel photothermal catalysts in the decontamination of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) under ambient conditions (i.e., solar light and room temperature).

在此，首先说明了超薄碳化钴（Co ₂ C）纳米片作为在阳光下对硫芥子模拟剂（例如2-氯乙基乙基硫化物，CEES）进行光热降解的有效且稳定的催化剂。在最佳条件下，Co ₂ C纳米片对CEES的降解率高达98％，远高于广泛使用的P25和锐钛矿型TiO ₂纳米颗粒。而且，其降解性能与甚至包括MnO ₂，MnO _x -TiO ₂和Co ₃ O ₄在内的典型光热催化剂相当甚至更好。，在相同条件下。实验证据和密度泛函理论（DFT）计算表明，优异的活性归因于三个主要原因：（i）Co ₂ C的高光热转换效率可提高化学键断裂的表面温度;（ii ）CEES通过Co S和Co Cl配位在Co ₂ C表面上的可行结合促进了降解过程，以及（iii）Co ₂上的表面羟基（OH）C纳米片有利于CEES的降解。显然，这项工作为过渡金属碳化物（TMC）作为新型光热催化剂在环境条件下（即，日光和室温下）净化化学战剂（CWA）提供了新的见识。