Eliminating the organic matters in wastewater and simultaneously recovering the energy stored in them is considered as a promising way to address the environmental pollution problem as well as the energy crisis. The photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) technique is thereof promising because it’s based on semiconductors photoanode that enables a fast and direct reaction between organic composites and highly reactive radicals under light illumination. However, the main radical reactions of these established PFC systems principally occur on the surface of photoanode and cathode (or photocathode) but the surface area cannot be infinitely increased, which has become a difficult spot that limits the organics degradation in the existing PFC systems. Therefore, expanding the free radical reactions to the whole solution can break through the limitation of interfacial reactions and greatly increases the efficiency of radical reactions in the solution system of PFC. In this study, Fe2+/Fe3+ are introduced into the traditional PFC system, realizing the combination of PFC system and Fe2+/Fe3+ cycle catalytic. During the Fe2+/Fe3+ cycle, the free radicals initiator such as (h+, hydroxyl radical) on the anode and (e-, superoxide radical, hydroperoxyl radical) on the cathode were expanded into the whole system where strong radical chain reactions were motivated for enhanced degradation efficiency of organic matter and chemical energy coverage (see Fig. 1a). Based on the Fe2+/Fe3+ system, further introduction of AQS/PPy-GF cathode into PFC system can increase the yield of superoxide radical, thus accelerating the efficiency of Fe2+/Fe3+ cycle and increasing the concentration of free radicals in solution, which greatly improves the degradation efficiency of organic compounds (see Fig.1b). The construction of the novel catalytic system provides the feasibility for the higher efficiency of different photoelectrocatalytic systems.

High efficient organic pollutants degradation and simultaneous electricity production based on solar photocatalytic initiation

255th National Meeting (2018)

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