Guangsen Xia, Yonghong Lu, Haibo Xu
Mar 10, 2015
Citations
0
Influential Citations
104
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Electrochimica Acta
Abstract
Abstract Polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber brush (PAN-CFB) cathode was used to electrogenerate hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) via oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and to degrade phenol in electro-Fenton system. Due to inherent N-containing structure, PAN-CFB cathode generated H 2 O 2 efficiently (current efficiency at 300 mA >90%), showing high selectivity toward 2-electron ORR independent of medium (H 2 SO 4 , Na 2 SO 4 or NaOH). Moreover, the influence of parameters such as applied current, cathodic potential, electrolyte concentration and volume as well as electrode distance on H 2 O 2 electrogeneration was investigated in detail. Finally, the degradation of phenol was evaluated by ultraviolet (UV) spectra analysis and COD measurement. 86.2% of COD removal was achieved under the optimum conditions (pH 3, I = 300 mA, 0.3 mmol L −1 Fe 2+ ) after 240 min, meaning the almost complete degradation of phenol via electro-Fenton process using PAN-CFB cathode.