Electrochemical treatment of solutions containing a recalcitrant dye: A way of using dimensionally adaptable catalytic fabrics

Abstract

The objective of this work is to study the decolorization/degradation of reactive dye Remazol Black (RMZB) in sulfuric media. The electrochemical behavior was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) using platinum (Pt) and glassy carbon (GC) as working electrodes. Different electrolyses were performed potentioscally using Pt, activated carbon textile (ACT) and activated carbon textile electrocatalytically improved with dispersed Pt (Pt-ACT) with and without NaCl. The decolorization was studied by UV-visible spectroscopy. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) also permitted us to confirm the dye degradation. Specific applied charge (Q/Ah L-1) was evaluated and the efficiencies of the dye degradation were discussed in terms of electrical energy per order (E-EO/kWh m(-3) order(-1)). Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) was used to observe the morphological differences of a Pt-ACT electrode before and after the electrolyses, confirming that the corverage of dispersed Pt remains on the surface.