Nitrogen exists in our water storage reservoir and wastewater in the toxic form of ammonia and its removal requires time-consuming and costly chemical and biological water purification procedures. Electro-oxidation of wastewater containing ammonia could be considered as a promising alternative due to the generation of hydrogen gas fuel as a by-product with an overpotential less than that of pure water electrolysis. The main electrocatalyst for this purpose are mainly based on expensive noble metals such as platinum (Pt), ruthenium (Ru), rhodium (Rh), palladium (Pd), iridium (Ir), platinum (Pt), and gold (Au) which are rare and senseless to use in the industry level. A bottleneck for this technique is to reduce the loading of noble metal in the catalyst electrodes, meanwhile reducing the risk of poisoning on the metal surface during the electro-oxidation should be suppressed. Herein, we show a co-electrodeposition of a copper-platinum (Cu-Pt) bimetallic superlattices containing ultralow noble metal Pt content (< 3 wt. %) onto high surface area carbon fibre-based electrodes. This novel electrode shows better electrocatalytic performance than that of both bare Pt and pure Pt on carbon fibres, indicating that we are able to make cheaper and more efficient electrodes in near future based on ultralow noble-metal content. Compared to pure Pt, our Cu-Pt alloy coated filaments demonstrated less electrode poisoning over its lifetime and bonded more strongly and uniformly onto the carbon fibre due to better mechanical interlocking between the two phases of bimetallic alloy and carbon filaments. The results, therefore, provide a promising step towards large-scale wastewater treatment combined with clean energy generation. 

Electro-oxidation of wastewater containing ammonia via bimetallic superlattice catalyst on carbon fibre templates with ultralow platinum content

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.