Phosphorus‐Doped Porous Carbon Coated Graphite Felt as An Efficient and Reusable Cathode for Electro‐Fenton Degradation of Parabens

Abstract

Abstract Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are currently drawing significant attention due to their environmental impact. Electro‐Fenton, one of the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), is an efficient and comprehensive technology to degrade all kinds of organic pollutants, but the degradation efficiency relies on cathode material. In this work, phosphorus‐doped porous carbon material coated graphite felt (P‐GF) was prepared by adopting phytic acid as a phosphorus source through high temperature solid‐state method. The microstructure and the elements composition of this fabricated material were investigated by SEM, BET and XPS. With phosphorus doping and plenty of carbon porous structures, the hydrophilicity and infiltrating property of the P‐GF had been greatly improved. The prepared P‐GF material enhanced the electrochemical reduction of O2 and could significantly enhance the yield of H2O2. It was used as a cathode to degrade pollutants under a constant potential, and methylparaben (MePa) was chosen as a research model for optimizing the experimental conditions and analyzing the possible degradation pathway. The P‐GF cathode achieved an excellent ability of degrading nearly 100 % of methylparaben within 3 h. The simultaneous removal ability of the P‐GF to four parabens was impressed. Additionally, the P‐GF material exhibited outstanding reusability.

Keywords

• doping
• electro-Fenton
• environmental chemistry
• graphite felt
• parabens