Electro catalytic generation of reactive species at diamond electrodes and applications in microbial inactivation

Abstract

Use of robust and safe water disinfection technologies which are inexpensive and energy-efficient are need of the hour to combat the problem of inadequate access of safe and clean drinking water. Energy and chemically intensive water treatment technologies warrant the need for a safe and environmentally sound treatment technology. Electrochemical disinfection or electrodisinfection (ED) is experiencing a great resurgence among the scientific communities owing to its novel use of electrode materials and electric current in an inexpensive and energy-efficient way for achieving the inactivation of microorganisms. Among the various electrodes used in the ED, boron-doped diamonds emerge as a sustainable alternate for their ability to electro generate strong potent oxidants which result in effective pathogen control in drinking water. ED for disinfecting waters occurs via generation of the reactive species which act in the bacterial inactivation mechanisms. In this mini-review, a critical discussion on the fundamentals and applications of promising electrochemical methods using boron-doped diamond anodes (namely electrochemical oxidation), evidencing their advantages for the remediation of drinking water infected with waterborne agents, is given.