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Electrocatalytic degradation of methyl orange and 4-nitrophenol on a Ti/TiO2-NTA/La-PbO2 electrode: electrode characterization and operating parameters

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Abstract

The anode material plays a crucial role in the process of electrochemical oxidation. Herein, a TiO2 nanotube arrays (TiO2-NTA) intermediate layer and La-PbO2 catalytic layer were synthesized on a Ti surface by the electrochemical anodic oxidation and electrochemical deposition technology, respectively. The prepared Ti/TiO2-NTA/La-PbO2 electrode was used as an electrocatalytic oxidation anode for pollutant degradation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showed that the TiO2-NTA layer possessed a highly ordered and well-aligned nanotube array morphology, and the La-PbO2 layer with angular cone cluster was uniform and tightly bonded. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis indicated that the intermediate layer primarily consisted of the anatase crystal structure of TiO2 and the catalyst layer was made of La-PbO2. Electrochemical analysis revealed that Ti/TiO2-NTA/La-PbO2 electrode exhibited higher oxidation peak current, electrochemical active surface area, and oxygen evolution potential (OEP, 1.64 V). Using methyl orange and 4-nitrophenol as model pollutants, electrocatalytic properties of the prepared Ti/TiO2-NTA/La-PbO2 electrode were systematically investigated under different conditions, and the electrochemical degradation fitted well with the pseudo-first-order kinetics model. Efficient anodic oxidation of model pollutants was mainly attributed to the indirect oxidation mediated by hydroxyl radicals (•OH). The total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency of methyl orange and 4-nitrophenol was 70.2 and 72.8%, and low energy consumption (2.50 and 1.89 kWh g−1) was achieved after 240 min of electrolysis under the conditions of initial concentration of model pollutant, electrode spacing, and electrolyte concentration were 50 mg L−1, 2 cm, and 0.1 mol L−1, respectively. This work provided a new strategy to develop the high-efficiency electrode for refractory pollutants degradation.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Scientific and Technological Innovation Programs of Higher Education Institutions in Shanxi (nos. 2019L0383 and 2019L0387), the Science and Technology Innovation Fund of Shanxi Agricultural University (nos. 2018YJ22 and 2018YJ25), the Shenzhen Fund in Special Foundation for Guiding Local Science and Technology Development of the Central Government (no. 2021Szvup001), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (no. 2021M690247), and the Excellent Doctors come to Shanxi to Reward Scientific Research Projects (no. SXYBKY2018024).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resource and Environment, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, 030801, China

    Zepeng Sun, Yue Ni, Wenqing Yue, Ge Zhang & Jianmei Bai

  2. Shenzhen Institute, Peking University, Shenzhen, 518057, China

    Yuandong Wu

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  1. Zepeng Sun
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  2. Yue Ni
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  4. Wenqing Yue
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Material preparation and data collection and analysis were performed by Zepeng Sun, Wenqing Yue, Ge Zhang, and Jianmei Bai. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Zepeng Sun. Yue Ni and Yuandong Wu designed the research, checked the manuscript, and gave amending advice on the manuscript. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Sun, Z., Ni, Y., Wu, Y. et al. Electrocatalytic degradation of methyl orange and 4-nitrophenol on a Ti/TiO2-NTA/La-PbO2 electrode: electrode characterization and operating parameters. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 6262–6274 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22610-y

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