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 MgB4 MXene-like nanosheets from layered two-component MgB2 using the general procedure for MXene preparation from the MAX phase. We explored the structural, chemical, optical, and photocatalytic characteristics of boron-based MgB4 MXene-like nanosheets. The as-obtained MgB4 nanosheets show high, stable photocatalytic H2 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 MgB4 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.