Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity of Exfoliated Boron‐TiO2 Composite for Degradation of Rhodamine B and Nitrogen Fixation

The design of an efficient, recyclable, visible light photocatalytic system was examined as a viable new green way to address environmental challenges such as removal of pollutants from wastewater and N2 fixation. The exfoliated boron (Bexf)‐Titanium oxide (TiO2) composite visible light active photocatalysts were successfully constructed via a simple wet chemical method by utilizing acetone as a solvent. The composite was evaluated for the photodegradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) dye and reduction of N2, which exhibits improved photocatalytic activity for degradation of RhB as well as for reduction of N2. Experiments with different quenchers indicate that the photogenerated superoxide radical anion (O2⋅−) plays a significant role in the degradation of RhB as well as for N2 reduction reactions. The composite catalyst shows good photostability and there is no significant reduction of the catalyst activity for dye degradation up to 4 cycles of reaction. This work affords a significant view into the design of reusable TiO2 composite materials for photocatalytic RhB degradation and nitrogen fixation. Exfoliated boron (Bexf) coupled TiO2 composite was synthesized by a wet chemical process. Bexf−TiO2 composite exhibits extended visible light absorption, further Bexf−TiO2 was used for the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) dye and nitrogen fixation. The increase in photoactivity for RhB degradation and NH3 production was observed to be 1.67 and 1.8 fold, respectively, compared to the pristine TiO2.