Engineering

Physical chemistry

Composite material

Catalysis

Epoxy

Nanotechnology

Electrode

Organic chemistry

Inorganic chemistry

Chemistry

Metallurgy

Materials science

Bisphenol A

Oxide

Aerogel

Graphene

Electrocatalyst

Chemical engineering

Soldering

Electrochemistry

Ball grid array

Applied Catalysis B Environment and Energy

Exploring the application of efficient metal-free catalysts in electrochemical advanced oxidation process (EAOPs) is of practical significance for environmental pollution treatment. Herein, the novel boron-doped graphene aerogel (BGA) modified gas diffusion electrode (GDEs) was prepared, characterized, and employed for bisphenol A (BPA) degradation in nonmetallic EAOPs. Boron doping could promote electrode property with a complete BPA removal within 60 min, which was attributed to the enhancement of H2O2 in-situ decomposition to •OH. An appropriate proportion of BGA (2.4%) represented more positive onset potential, favoring the remarkable improvement of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity. The metal-free EAOPs on BGA-GDEs manifested smaller change in reaction rate (0.0952 min−1) compared with that of traditional Electro-Fenton (EF) process (0.19115 min−1) when the initial pH increased from 3.0 to 9.0, revealing that the catalytic activity of this metal-free system exhibited excellent stability over a wide pH range. In addition, the overwhelming superiority of stability was certified. Hence, the in-situ metal-free electrocatalysis on BGA-GDEs could be considered as an environment-friendly pollutant removal system without risk of metal contamination.

Performance of boron-doped graphene aerogel modified gas diffusion electrode for in-situ metal-free electrochemical advanced oxidation of Bisphenol A