A comprehensive study on the electrocatalytic degradation, electrochemical behavior and degradation mechanism of malachite green using electrodeposited nanostructured β-PbO2 electrodes

Abstract

This work has investigated the electrocatalytic degradation of malachite green (MG) in aqueous solution with G/β-PbO2, SS316/β-PbO2, Ti/β-PbO2 and Pb/β-PbO2 electrodes. These electrodes show high oxygen evolution over-potential and excellent electrochemical degradation efficiency for organic pollutants. The optimum conditions for the degradation of MG were obtained by studying the effects of different parameters, such as initial current densities and initial MG concentration. The remaining organic compounds concentrations (color) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency were investigated and compared. The results indicate that the efficiency of G/β-PbO2 electrode for both color and COD removals is more than those of other electrodes. At the optimum conditions, the color and COD removal efficiencies of MG reached up to 100% and 94%, respectively. The observed degradation rate of MG was found to vary in the order G/β-PbO2> SS316/β-PbO2> Ti/β-PbO2> Pb/β-PbO2. Moreover, in this paper, the electrochemical behavior and adsorption characteristic of MG in aqueous solutions with different pH values were studied in details at glassy carbon electrode using both constant-current coulometry and cyclic voltammetry techniques. This study has led to the proposed mechanism for the oxidation pathway of MG and determine the absorption properties of MG in acidic, neutral and basic solutions. We also proposed the mineralization pathway of MG at β-PbO2 electrode.