Interfacial Schottky junction of Ti3C2Tx MXene/g-C3N4 for promoting spatial charge separation in photoelectrochemical cathodic protection of steel

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) cathodic protection was an ecofriendly and promising method for anti-corrosion of metal. In this work, the Ti3C2 & nbsp;MXene-based photoanode was the first time to apply in the PEC anti-corrosion process. The interfacial Schottky junction in TC-x/CN composites was designed by the electrostatic self assembly method. Different content of Ti(3)C(2 & nbsp;)was to investigate the effect on the PEC performance in TC-x/CN composites. Specifically, the TC-1.0/CN showed the highest PEC cathodic protection performance for 304 SS, which revealed low content of & nbsp;Ti3C2 was beneficial for spatial charge separation. Various characterization techniques analysis further verified the Schottky junction successfully formed at the interface between Ti3C2 and g-C3N4 and significantly promote the spatial charge separation. Furthermore, this work proposed the possible electron transfer pathway and deepened understanding of the PEC cathodic protection mechanism.