Electrocatalytic membrane containing CuFeO2/nanoporous carbon for organic dye removal application

Abstract

Decolorizations, degradation and mineralization of wastewater containing dyes utilizing an electrocatalytic membrane reactor (ECMR) is a beneficial development to conventional advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) caused of its robust efficiency and sustainability and environmental appropriateness. We herein developed a stainless-steel mesh (SSM) electrode supported a porous membrane via incorporation of a PVDF casting solution containing CuFeO2 delafossite nanoparticles impregnated in nanoporous carbon (NPC) biomass derived from apple powder as a critical electrocatalytic and chemical confinement active sites. The SSM membrane electrode was applied as the anode in a gravity-driven ECMR with deep-permeation and self-cleaning function and its concept-of-proof were investigated by methyl orange (MO, as typical azo dyes) electrocatalytic oxidation/filtration. As-designed system exhibiting a robust degradation efficiency of over 98.72% toward MO due to the heterointerfacial structure of CuFeO2 and NPC, which provided the fast electron transfer and low recombination rate, the superior generation rate of the hydroxyl radicals, large effective surface area, self-regenerability, and the least fouling and concentration polarization. The TOC and COD analysis validated that the treatment by as-prepared ECM is proficient for effluent-treatment than the industrial physico-chemical treatments. This strategy beacon paves the headlight for the substantial understanding and designing of novel extremely effective and economic ECMs for several potential applications, including environmental remediation.