Effect of carbonization temperature of carbon felt on removal of methylene blue: carbon felt as the cathode of Electro-Fenton system

Abstract

The surface properties of carbon fiber have been regarded as the critical factor for 2-electron oxygen reduction (ORR) and degradation of organic pollution in Eletro-Fenton process. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of carbonization temperature on the performance of carbon felt as the cathode for degradation methylene blue (MB). This work was adopted carbon felt that obtained at the carbonization temperature of 1050, 1600, 2000 °C respectively, comparison of the electrogeneration of H2O2 and MB removal rate at pH 3. Compared with CF-B and CF-C, high-yield H2O2 production (38.9 mg L−1, 1.3 mg h−1 cm−2) and high-degradation rate of MB (96.7%, kinetics constant: 0.0623 min−1) in CF-A system have been achieved. The hydrophilic was carried by water contact angle test, indicated that the inert of surface: CF-C > CF-B > CF-A. The disorder degree of surface was characterized by Raman spectroscopy, and in combination with CV and LSV tests, revealed the ORR catalysis properties of different types cathode. This study suggested that lower temperature of carbonization was in favour of carbon felt as the Electro-Fenton cathode to degenerate organic pollution.