Enhanced electrocatalytic performance on FeOCl/CeO2 via synergy of oxygen vacancy and relative content of Ce3+

Abstract

Cathode material is significant for in-situ generation and effective activation of H2O2 during heterogeneous Electro-Fenton process. Here, a serial of FeOCl/CeO2 composites was prepared and characterized by XRD, TEM, and et.al. Electrocatalytic performance indicated 95% phenol with concentration 17 ppm was removed and the TOC removal was 61.29% with 1.1 mg/cm2 FeOCl/CeO2 as electrocatalyst at -1.1 V(&Ag/AgCl) at pH=3 within 40 min. In addition, FeOCl/ CeO2 can still show a good degradation efficiency in the presence of 2.17 mol/L Na+. The mechanism analysis by XPS, Raman and EPR indicated that there is a synergistic effect between FeOCl and CeO2 by the formation of Ce-Cl. The oxygen vacancy and the content of Ce3+ was boosted in FeOCl/CeO2 composite material, which promotes the H2O2 yields and instantaneous activation to •OH, thus leading to a significantly improved electrocatalytic performance of FeOCl/CeO2. This work demonstrated that the prepared FeOCl/CeO2 cathode material is a promising candidate for organic pollution removal by an Electra-Fenton reaction.