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In situ anodic induction of low-valence copper in electro-Fenton system for effective nitrobenzene degradation

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Abstract

To achieve superior advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), transitional state activators are of great significance for the production of active radicals by H2O2, while instability limits their activation efficiency. In this study, density functional theory calculation (DFT) results showed that Cu+ exhibits excellent H2O2 activation performance, with Gibbs free energy change (ΔG) of 33.66 kcal/mol, two times less than that of Cu2+ (77.83 kcal/mol). Meanwhile, an electro-Fenton system using Cu plate as an anode was proposed for in situ generation of Cu+. The released Cu with low-valence state can be well-confined on the surface of the exciting electrode, which was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman, and UV-vis spectroscopy. The hydroxyl radicals in this Cu-based electro-Fenton system were determined by the electron spin resonance (ESR). The nitrobenzene degradation ratio was greatly increased by 43.90% with the introduction of the proposed in situ electrochemical Cu+ generation process. Various characterization results indicated that the production of Cu+ was the key factor in the highly efficient Cu-based electro-Fenton reaction.

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Funding

This research was financially supported by the Research Fund of Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment (2017ZX07402001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology of Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China

    Yunting Wang, Jiawei Tang, Xuelu Shi & Chunhui Zhang

  2. Center for Water and Ecology, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, PR China

    Yunting Wang & Gong Zhang

  3. National Engineering Laboratory for Hydrometallurgical Cleaner Production Technology, CAS Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, PR China

    Yudong Xue

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  1. Yunting Wang
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  2. Gong Zhang
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  3. Yudong Xue
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  4. Jiawei Tang
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  5. Xuelu Shi
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Correspondence to Yudong Xue or Chunhui Zhang.

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Wang, Y., Zhang, G., Xue, Y. et al. In situ anodic induction of low-valence copper in electro-Fenton system for effective nitrobenzene degradation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 32165–32174 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06387-1

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