Fabrication of Efficient Nano-MnOx/ACF Particle Electrodes and their Application in the Electrooxidation of m-Cresol in the 3-D Electrode System

Various metallic oxide nanoparticles supported on commercial activated carbon fibers (M/ACF) were fabricated and employed as particle electrodes to degrade aqueous m-cresol in (three-dimensional) 3-D electrochemical systems. It has been experimentally demonstrated that the ACF loaded with MnOx exhibited relatively higher 3-D electrooxidation performance than other metallic oxides (FeOx, CuO, and SnO2). Several fabricated samples were characterized by N2 adsorption, SEM, TEM, and so forth. The characterization results revealed that MnOx on the ACF samples was mainly composed of MnO2 and Mn2O3 nanoparticles, while the presence of MnO2 might be beneficial for the 3-D electrooxidation. The experimental results proved that the optimal preparation techniques of Mn/ACF were as follows: active component loading: 6% and calcination temperatures: 450 °C, resulting in about average 70% TOC removal. The reaction mechanism was discussed: the electrooxidative degradation process of organic pollutants with MnOx/ACF as particle electrodes was the synergistic effects of MnOx nanomaterials and ACF functional groups.