Near-infrared light-driven photofixation of nitrogen over Ti3C2Tx/TiO2 hybrid structures with superior activity and stability

•Ti3C2Tx/TiO2-400 toward NIR light-driven N2 photofixation was successfully developed by combining Ti3C2Tx MXene with TiO2.•The NH3 production rate of Ti3C2Tx/TiO2-400 reached 422 μmol gcat.–1 h–1 under full-spectrum in water without any sacrificial agents.•Superior activity was achieved for Ti3C2Tx/TiO2-400 with the NH3 production rate of 82 μmol gcat.–1 h–1 by applying 740-nm monochromatic light.•Plasmonic Ti3C2Tx Mxene phase in Ti3C2Tx/TiO2-400 enabled the harvesting of NIR light to generate hot electrons.•Oxygen vacancies in TiO2 phase of Ti3C2Tx/TiO2-400 served as the active centers to efficiently adsorb and activate N2 molecules.