Electrochemical Degradation of Acid Blue 113 Dye Using Tio2-Nanotubes Decorated with pbo2 as Anode

In this study, degradation of an industrial textile dye by electrochemical oxidation (EO) approach has been performed in an aqueous medium. The galvanostatic electrolysis, through the use of the platinum supported on Ti (Ti/Pt), lead dioxide (Pb/PbO2) and TiO2-nanotubes decorated with PbO2 supported on Ti (Ti/TiO2-nanotubes/PbO2) anodes, were conducted in an electrochemical flow cell with 1.0 L of solution containing 250 mg dm-3 of the textile dye Acid Blue 113 (AB113) using Na2SO4 as supporting electrolyte, applying 20, 40 and 60 mA cm-2. Large disk electrodes of Ti/TiO2-Nanotubes/PbO2 (65 cm2 of geometrical area) were successfully synthesized by anodization and electrodeposition procedures. The electrolytic process was monitored by the UV-visible spectrometry and the chemical oxygen demand (COD). The results showed that the AB113 was successfully degraded by hydroxyl radicals electrogenerated from water discharge on the Ti/TiO2-Nanotubes/PbO2 electrode surface. Compared with Ti/Pt and Pb/PbO2, the Ti/TiO2-Nanotubes/PbO2 anode showed a better performance to remove the AB113. It provided a higher oxidation rate, higher current efficiency and consumed less energy than the galvanostatic electrolysis using the other electrodes. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.