Comparative study on the electrocatalytic performance of different catalysts supported on activated carbon particle electrodes in a three-dimensional electrode cell

摘要

The electrocatalytic performance of different catalysts loaded on activated carbon particle electrodes via an impregnation method was investigated through the degradation of methyl orange in a three-dimensional electrode cell. Mn, Co, Zn, Sn, and Sb catalysts were chosen to study the electrocatalytic performance of single-component catalysts. The results indicated that 0.4 mol/L Mn and 0.2 mol/L Sb catalysts exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activities, whereas the electrocatalytic performance of 0.6 mol/L Zn catalyst was the worst among the catalysts investigated. The electrocatalytic performance of single-component catalysts was related to their concentrations and structures. The electrocatalytic performance of double-component catalysts, Co-Mn, Sn-Mn, and Sb-Mn, was also investigated. Compared with the single-component catalyst Mn, the degradation half-life with the Sn-Mn and Sb-Mn catalysts decreased from 11.3 to 7.4 min and 5.1 min, respectively. In contrast, the half-life with the Co-Mn catalyst increased from 11.3 to 14.9 min. The combination of two catalytic components produced synergetic or antagonistic effects on the electrocatalytic performance of the resulting double-component catalyst. The triple-component catalyst, Sn-Sb-Mn, did not further improve the electrocatalytic performance of the corresponding double-component catalysts because of agglomeration occurring at the electrode surface. The incorporation of an excessive amount of components was not conducive to enhancing the electrocatalytic performance of catalyst. The possible mechanism for the differences in the electrocatalytic performance of different catalysts was discussed in detail.