1890
Designing of Self Standing Binder Free Fe3O4/NiCo2O4 Photoanode and Synergistic Cathode Contribution in Photoelectrocatalytic Water Remediation at Low Current Density

Tuesday, 31 May 2022: 10:40
West Meeting Room 121 (Vancouver Convention Center)
R. Kaushik and A. Halder (Indian Institute of Technology Mandi)
The photo-enhanced electro-oxidation of organic pollutants stands out among the available environmental remediation methods because of its ease of implementation, the possibility of automation, high energy efficiency, and environmental compatibility. Importantly, the effectiveness and selectivity of an anodic process can be tuned easily by tuning the electrode material and its properties. Here, we have successfully demonstrated the synthesis and PEC utilization of Fe3O4 coated NiCo2O4 nanospikes. The synthesized composite material showed complete removal of tetracycline molecules from wastewater in just 40 min with a rate constant of 7.9x10-2 s-1. The composition of the catalyst is also optimized to get the best activity. Here, simultaneous H2O2 production at the cathode was found to be the major factor to enhance the degradation activity by synergistically utilizing anode and cathode both. H2O2 quantification reveals the formation of 35 micro-M H2O2 concentrations in 30 min which is 1.5 times as compared to neat NiCo2O4 spikes. Detailed characterizations reveal that Fe promotes the adsorption and activation of water molecules and produces large quantities of M (• OH). This study not only offers a novel anode structure for the PEC process but also opens radically new prospects for applied environmental catalysis.