Synergistic adsorption and electrocatalytic reduction of bromate by Pd/N-doped loofah sponge-derived biochar electrode

Abstract In this work, a novel Pd/N-doped loofah sponge-derived biochar (Pd/NLSBC) material with three-dimensional (3D) network structure was prepared through the carbonization-impregnation method and applied as cathode for electrocatalytic bromate removal. The N-doped biochar not only increased the adsorption capacity of electrode, but also facilitated electron transfer, subsequently resulting in the high electrocatalytic activity for bromate removal. The results indicated higher bromate adsorption capacity of Pd/NLSBC electrode was favorable to the electrocatalytic bromate removal. The influences of significant operating factors including calcination temperature, initial solution pH, applied current intensity, and initial bromate concentration on electrocatalytic bromate removal were also optimized. Under the current intensity of 10 mA, Pd/NLSBC-800 exhibited the highest bromate removal efficiency (96.7 %) and the bromide conversion rate reached almost 100 % at the initial bromate concentration of 0.781 μmol L−1. This process could be effectively performed over a wide range of pH (2.0–9.0) and be well fitted to the pseudo-first-order kinetic model under different conditions. The reaction mechanism study indicated that both direct electron transfer and indirect reduction by the active hydrogen atom (H*) contributed to the elctrocatalytic bromate removal. Meanwhile, Pd/NLSBC-800 electrode could maintain its high electrocatalytic activity for bromate removal after five cycles.