Nanoarchitectonics of vanadium carbide MXenes for separation and catalytic degradation of contaminants

The search of expeditious materials for selective removal of residual contaminants, is an imperative task to the scientific community. In this work, we report the use of vanadium carbide MXenes, for the first time in (i) selective separation of organic dyes, (ii) degradation of pharmaceutical drugs and (iii) degradation of organic dyes. In particular, the exfoliated vanadium carbide (E-V2CTx) MXene shows remarkable selective adsorption of methylene blue dye (within 20 min) in a mixture of different organic dyes. The etched vanadium carbide (V2CTx) MXene shows excellent activity in selective degradation of pharmaceutical drugs (within 2 min) whereas V2AlC MAX phase shows remarkable activity in selective degradation of organic dyes (within 8 min) through advanced oxidation processes. The material shows an adsorption capacity of 16 mg L-1 within 20 min, with an initial concentration of 20 mg L-1. The degradation pathways were analyzed for the degradation of pharmaceutical drugs as well as organic dyes. The materials show remarkable reusability for multiple cycles in oxidative degradation of contaminants. This work provides a path for the design and development of efficient vanadium carbide MXene based materials for wastewater remediation.