Enhancing photocatalytic degradation of potassium butyl xanthate in mineral processing wastewater: Novel VO2+-doped LiZnBO3 nanosheets under visible light

Metal borates have attracted significant scientific attention due to their remarkable functional properties, making them versatile materials for applications in photocatalysis and energy storage. For the current investigation, three different concentration (1, 3, and 5 mol%) of vanadyl ions doped LiZnBO3 nanosheets (VO2+-doped LZB) were synthesized by an in-situ hydrothermal method. To better understand the properties of these prepared samples, a thorough characterization has been carried out, utilizing a range of structural and optical spectroscopy techniques. This study investigated the photocatalytic performance of the synthesized materials in the context of removing the mineral pollutant potassium butyl xanthate (PBX). Remarkably, at a 3 mol% concentration, the LZB-VO3 nanocomposite displayed significantly higher photocatalytic activity, achieving an impressive PBX degradation rate of 96.58% within a short duration of 70 minutes. In contrast, the pure LZB material exhibited a more modest degradation efficiency of only 30.58% when exposed to visible light. The optimized catalyst demonstrated a maximum rate constant of 0.0392 min−1, representing a remarkable enhancement of approximately 7.13 times compared to pure LZB. These findings underscore the remarkable potential of vanadyl ion doping, as it improves the absorption of the visible light spectrum and facilitates the efficient detachment of photoinduced charges, thereby significantly enhancing overall photocatalytic activity.