Graphite felt modified by nanoporous carbon as a novel cathode material for the EF process

Abstract

Nanoporous carbon (NPC) with microporous, mesoporous, and macroporous composite structures was designed and a new electro-Fenton cathode material was prepared by loading NPC onto graphite felt (GF) in this paper. The surface morphology and electrochemical properties of this material have been analyzed. The results show that the NPC obtained by carbonizing the composite of multi-walled carbon nanotubes and zeolite imidazole skeleton-8 has rich porosity and large specific surface area, which promotes the two-electron oxygen reduction reaction. Compared with the original GF, the NPC/GF electrode loaded with NPC has a higher current response and a lower charge transfer resistance. This modification has significantly improved the performance of the cathode to produce H₂O₂. Under the optimum conditions, the H₂O₂ yield of the NPC/GF electrode is about 17 times higher than that of the original GF and the degradation rate of acid red 18 (AR 18, 100 mg L⁻¹) can reach 98.18% within 2 hours. After eight cycles, the H₂O₂ output of the NPC/GF cathode did not decrease significantly and the degradation rate of AR18 was still higher than 95%, indicating that the NPC/GF electrode has good reusability and certain practical value.