Electro-Induced Carbon Nanotube Discrete Electrodes for Sustainable Persulfate Activation

In electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs), the rate-limiting step is the mass transfer of pollutants to the electrodes due to the limited active surface areas. To this end, we established a three-dimensional (3D) EAOP system by coupling conventional graphite electrodes with dispersed carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The electrodes (particularly the anode) induced electric field spontaneously polarized CNTs into dispersed reactive particle electrodes (CNT-PEs) in the solution, which remarkably promoted electrochemical activation of peroxydisulfate (PDS) to generate surface CNT–PDS* complexes and surface-bound radicals (SBRs). Based on the excited potential (ECNT-PEs) at different positions in the 3D electric field, CNT-PEs were activated into three states. (i) ECNT-PEs < Eorganic, CNT-PEs are chemically inert toward DCP oxidation; (ii) Eorganic < ECNT-PEs < Ewater, CNT-PEs will oxidize DCP via an electron-transfer process (ETP); (iii) ECNT-PEs > Ewater, both CNT–PDS* complexes and the anode will oxidize water to produce SBRs. Thus, DCP could be oxidized by CNT–PDS* complexes via ETP to form polychlorophenols on the CNT surface, causing rapid deactivation of the micro-electrodes. In contrast, SBRs attack DCP directly into chloride ions and hydroxylated products, maintaining the surface cleanliness and activity of CNT-PEs for long-term operations.