Abstract
Instead of performing the risky gas-phase oxidization of SO2, to produce sulfuric acid, this noxious gas can be first dissolved in water and then the resulting sulfite (SO32-) anions could be safely oxidized through a green photoelectrochemical route upon an environmentally-friendly, affordable photoanode. In this article, the authors deal with this environmentally/industrially important issue and conduct the sulfite-to-sulfate conversion process upon an n-type semiconducting hematite thin-film, deposited electrochemically on a commercially available tin-oxide substrate. The investigations revealed an excellent photoelectrochemical response and a fair oxidizing ability for the fabricated photodevice/reactor, to convert sulfite to sulfate in a two-electrodic standalone setup [no external potential was applied]. Furthermore, a superior activity was achieved for the production of sulfate upon the Co (II) impregnated photoanode. By drawing the system's energy diagram and noticing the reactions which occur during the photoconversion process, the phenomenon was also interpreted from a physicoelectrochemical mechanistic perspective.
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