Abstract: A kind of efficient composite photocatalytic materials BiVO₄/ZnO had been prepared via hydrothermal method in order to address the toxic or harmful residual butyl xanthate in wastewater of mineral processing.X-ray diffraction (XRD)，scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and uv-vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy (UV-Vis) have been used to characterize the structure，morphology and optical properties of the sample.Under simulated solar light irradiation，the impact of various variables，including the degradation time，BiVO₄/ZnO with different quality ratio of BiVO₄ and ZnO and initial butyl xanthate concentration，on the butyl xanthate degradation were investigated.Results showed：① Composite photocatalytic materials BiVO₄/ZnO with the doping ratio of BiVO₄ as much as 25% the quality of ZnO have high degradation effect of butyl xanthate simulated wastewater；the lower initial concentration 、the longer degradation time，the higher degradation effect of butyl xanthate；the degradation efficiency of butyl xanthate of 50 mL reached 96.00% using photocatalytic materials BiVO₄/ZnO of 50 mg under the condition of the butyl xanthate initial concentration of 50 mg/L at pH=7.②Composite photocatalytic materials BiVO₄/ZnO can be reused in the degradation of butyl xanthate and the degradation efficiency is almost not influenced by recycling times.③The photocatalytic degradation of butyl xanthate by photocatalytic materials BiVO₄/ZnO followed the first-order kinetic model.

Key words: Photocatalytic materials BiVO4/ZnO, Photocatalytic degradation, Butyl xanthate