Floatable Fe-TiO₂/hydrogel composite for photodegradation of water pollutants

The development of highly efficient and low-cost photocatalysts for degradation of organic pollutants become an effective approach for environmental remediation. However, the practical application of traditional powder catalyst in photocatalytic technology is limited due to its low recycling capacity, agglomeration and secondary pollution risk. Herein, a floating Fe-doped TiO₂ and hydrogel (FTH) composite was synthesized for the photodegradation of Rhodamine B via a facile impregnation method. The photodegradation results show that the FTH composite exhibits a higher photocatalytic efficiency with degradation percentage (95.6%) compared with pure TiO₂ (41.2%). The enhanced photocatalytic performance is attributed to its excellent flotation performance, providing a large number of active sites for pollutant degradation, contact with O₂ and photons at the air/water interface. Remarkably, the adsorbed Rhodamine B in FTH can still be removed by exposing to light in the air alone, demonstrating strong recovery ability of the FIH composite catalyst. The floatable hydrogel nanocomposites offer a promising solution for scalable solar-drive degradation of water pollutants, paving the way for sustainable water treatment technologies.