B-doped SnO₂ nanoparticles: a new insight into the photocatalytic hydrogen generation by water splitting and degradation of dyes

Boron-doped SnO₂ (B:SnO₂) has been synthesized via a facile wet chemical method to deal with increasing energy demand and environment-related issues. Powder XRD confirmed the rutile phase of the synthesized B:SnO₂ nanoparticles. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis and elemental mapping confirmed 1% B doping into SnO₂ lattice. A red shift was observed during the analysis of Raman and FTIR spectral data. The bands in FTIR and Raman spectra confirmed the in-plane and bridging oxygen vacancies in SnO₂ lattice introduced due to B doping. These nanoparticles showed proficiency in photocatalytic hydrogen generation and degradation of crystal violet (CV) and rhodamine B (RhB) dyes. The degradation of CV and RhB dyes in the presence of B:SnO₂ NPs and ethane-1,2-diaminetetracetic acid (EDTA) was found to be 83 and ~ 100%, respectively. To escalate the efficiency of dye degradation, the experiment was performed with different sacrificial agents (EDTA, methanol, and triethanolamine). The maximum hydrogen production rate (63.6184 µmol g^-1 h^-1) was observed for B:SnO₂ along with Pd as co-catalyst, and methanol and EDTA solution as sacrificial agents.