Boron doped micro/nanocrystalline diamond electrodes used on the electrochemical flow reactor to degrade brilliant green dye

Abstract

ABSTRACTA systematic study was performed concerning the production, characterization, and application of BDD and BDND films grown on Ti substrate to degrade brilliant green dye using an electrochemical flow reactor. Films were grown in a hot filament chemical vapour deposition (HFCVD) reactor using H2/CH4 (BDD) and H2/CH4/Ar (BDND) gas mixtures. Boron doping was performed by dissolution of B2O3 in methanol in the appropriate B/C ratio to obtain good conductive electrodes. The electrolysis was carried out using BDD/Ti and BDND/Ti as anode material analyzing the influence of different current densities and flow rates. During the electrolysis, aliquots of the treated solution were analyzed by UV-Vis and Total Organic Carbon (TOC) measurements. The electrode efficiencies were compared considering the color removal as well as the TOC mineralization in the end of each electrolysis. The absorption bands intensity from UV/Vis spectra clearly decreased up to their completely vanishing at current density of 100 mA/cm2 for both electrodes. These results were corroborated by TOC measurements where 50% of the organic material was removed.