Exploring catalytic performance of boron-doped graphene electrode for electrochemical degradation of acetaminophen

摘要

Boron doped graphene as anode has been widely applied to enhance the efficiency in electrochemical applications. However, due to the complicated structure of boron species, its function and underlying mechanism still remained open for exploration. To grasp the contributions of boron species in acetaminophen (APAP) degradation, this first-attempt study deciphered the activity of boron species in details through experiment and theoretical assessments. The findings indicated that the efficiency increased with the percentage of B species at edge in the catalysts. Boron contents, applied current, electrolyte, temperature and initial pH were influenced on the material performance. The removal rate of APAP could reach 98.2% under the conditions of applied current of 20 mA, pH 3 using NaCl as electrolyte. The halogen electrolyte shows more positive effect for electro-oxidation than other sulfate and nitrate. The predominant active site for electrocatalytic oxidation was confirmed to be BCO2 and BC2O species at edge rather than BsbndC in skeleton. The co-doping of B in same layer and over lapping of doped layer with graphene layers will slight decrease the activity of B species. During electrocatalytic oxidation, the OH and halide radicals could persistently attack APAP which were eventually mineralized to be CO2 and H2O.