Electrochemically codeposited palladium/molybdenum oxide electrode for electrocatalytic reductive dechlorination of 4-chlorophenol

TiO2@PDA inorganic-organic core-shell skeleton supported Pd nanodots for enhanced electrocatalytic hydrodechlorination

The development of catalysts with high atom utilization and activity is the biggest challenge for electrocatalytic hydrodechlorination (EHDC) technology. Herein, a design strategy of TiO₂@PDA inorganic-organic core-shell skeleton for loading lower dosage of noble palladium (Pd) with robust activity is reported. The self-supported TiO₂@PDA nanorod arrays provides exposed surface area for anchoring Pd and PDA as interlayer controls the Pd nucleation to form nanodots with high dispersion, realizing high atom utilization. Moreover, the strong interaction between PDA and Pd realizes the coexistence of electron-rich and deficient Pd species with suitable proportion, which facilitate the H* formation and the C-Cl bond activation, respectively, resulting in the promoted activity. The optimal TiO₂@PDA/Pd electrode exhibits a low dosage of Pd (0.093 mg cm^-2) and excellent activity for 4-chlorophenol reduction with a mass activity (MA) of 23.96 min^-1g^-1, which is 3.31 times as high as that of TiO₂/Pd. The design scheme with inorganic-organic core-shell skeleton as support is benefit for developing highly efficient and lower price elctrocatalysts for EHDC.

Designing an Electron-Deficient Pd/NiCo2O4 Bifunctional Electrocatalyst with an Enhanced Hydrodechlorination Activity to Reduce the Consumption of Pd

Reducing the Pd loading on electrodes is critical in the electrocatalytic hydrodechlorination (EHDC) of chlorinated organic compounds (COCs). The EHDC reaction of COCs on Pd involves three steps: H* formation, H* adsorption, and dechlorination. It has been established that the initial hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) occurs on Pd⁰ and the dechlorination steps occur on Pd²⁺. A strategy is proposed to design new electrodes by adding a reducible HER-active interlayer to replace Pd⁰, fulfilling the responsibility of producing hydrogen, and to facilitate the formation of more Pd²⁺ for following C-Cl bond cleavage. Keeping the atomic hydrogen adsorption energy on the Pd/interlayer similar to that on pure Pd is also necessary for H* adsorption as well as to maintain a high EHDC activity. For the first time, the NiCo₂O₄-interlayer-modified Pd/Ni-foam electrode was applied in the EHDC of COCs, which enhanced the EHDC efficiency to 100% within 90 min and reduced 88.6% of Pd consumption. The Pd/NiCo₂O₄/Ni-foam electrode with enhanced EHDC activity was also observed with almost 100% product selectivity and good stability. A synergistic mechanism is proposed for the enhanced EHDC activity on the Pd/NiCo₂O₄/Ni-foam. This work offers a simple and useful strategy to design robust electrocatalysts for the EHDC of COCs.

A Polypyrrole-Modified Pd-Ag Bimetallic Electrode for the Electrocatalytic Reduction of 4-Chlorophenol

A polypyrrole-modified bimetallic electrode composed of Pd-Ag on a Ti substrate (Pd-Ag/PPY/Ti) was successfully prepared via a chemical deposition method, and was applied to the electrocatalytic hydrodechlorination of 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) in aqueous solution. The electrode was characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Various influences on the dechlorination efficiency of 4-chlorophenol, including applied current, initial pH value, and temperature, were studied. The dechlorination efficiency of 4-CP reached 94% within 120 min under the optimum conditions, i.e., a dechlorination current of 6 mA, an initial pH of 2.30, and a temperature of 303 K. The apparent activation energy of the dechlorination of 4-CP by the Pd-Ag/PPY/Ti electrode was calculated to be 49.6 kJ/mol. The equivalent conversion rate constant kPd was 0.63 L.gPd−1·min−1, which was higher than the findings presented in comparable literature. Thus, a highly effective bimetallic electrode with promising application prospects and low Pd loading was fabricated.

Preparation and Characterization of Advanced PtRu/Ti0.7Mo0.7O2 Catalysts for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

We report the new strategy by investigating the novel Ti0.7Mo0.3O2material can just as easily be used as a conductive support for PtRu for DMFCs to prevent not only the carbon corrosion but also improved activity of catalyst due to some functional advantages of novel Ti0.7Mo0.3O2support. The Ti0.7Mo0.3O2nanoparticle have good crystallinity with well-defined fringes corresponding to the 3.45 Å spacing value of the {101} plane of anatase TiO2, which were good according to the XRD pattern. The BET surface area measurements showed that the Ti0.7Mo0.3O2possessed 125 m2g-1Fig. 3 shows the TEM measurement of Ti0.7Mo0.3O2nanoparticle and Pt/Ti0.7Mo0.3O2, it can be observed that spherical PtRu alloy particles with an average particle size of 2-4 nm were uniformly anchored on the surface of Ti0.7Mo0.3O2support. More importantly, we found that there has a strong metal support interaction (SMSI) between the PtRu noble metal and the Ti0.7Mo0.3O2support material - resulting in facile electron donation from the Ti0.7Mo0.3O2support to PtRu metal with an ultimate drastic decrease in the d-band vacancy of Pt. Thus, the unique structural features of the Ti0.7Mo0.3O2support and the PtRu/Ti0.7Mo0.3O2catalyst appear to provide a suitable combination favoring that promise for the high performance of methanol oxidation, CO-tolerance in DMFCs.

Nucleophilic reactivity and electrocatalytic reduction of halogenated organic compounds by nickel o-phenylenedioxamidate complexes

Nickel(ii)-ate complexes supported by o-phenylenebis(N-methyloxamide) reacted with alkyl halides to form new imidate tautomers which were characterized by X-ray crystallography and FT-IR spectroscopy, and used for electroreduction of chloroform.

Effect of silver or copper middle layer on the performance of palladium modified nickel foam electrodes in the 2-chlorobiphenyl dechlorination

To enhance the activity of chemi-deposited palladium/nickel foam (Pd/Ni) electrodes used for an electrochemical dechlorination process, silver or copper was deposited electrochemically onto the nickel foam substrate (to give Ag/Ni or Cu/Ni) before the chemical deposition of palladium. The physicochemical properties of the resulting materials (Pd/Ni, Pd/Ag/Ni and Pd/Cu/Ni) were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and their electrochemical catalytic activities were evaluated by monitoring the electrochemical dechlorination of 2-chlorobiphenyl (2-CB) in strongly alkaline methanol/water solution. The results show that the Pd/Ag/Ni and Pd/Cu/Ni electrodes had consistently higher electrocatalytic activities and current efficiencies (CEs) compared with the untreated Pd/Ni electrode. The Pd/Ag/Ni electrode exhibited the highest activity. The dechlorination was also studied as a function of Pd loading, the Ag or Cu interlayer loadings, and the current density. The Pd loading and the interlayer loadings both had positive effects on the dechlorination reaction. Increasing the current density increased the reaction rate but reduced the CE. The improvement of the electrocatalytic activities of the Pd/Ni electrode by applying the interlayer of Ag or Cu resulted from the enlargement of the effective surface area of the electrode and the adjustment of the metal-H bond energy to the appropriate value, as well as the effective adsorption of 2-CB on Ag. Moreover, the high catalytic activity of the Pd/Ag/Ni electrode was maintained after six successive cyclic experiments, whereas Pd/Cu/Ni electrodes deactivate severely under the same conditions.

Electrogeneration of H(2) for Pd-catalytic hydrodechlorination of 2,4-dichlorophenol in groundwater

A novel electrolytic groundwater remediation process, which used the H(2) continuously generated at cathode to achieve in situ catalytic hydrodechlorination, was developed for the treatment of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) in groundwater. Catalytic hydrodechlorination using Pd supported on bamboo charcoal and external H(2) showed that 2,4-DCP was completely dechlorinated to phenol within 30 min at pH ≤ 5.5. In a divided electrolytic system, the catalytic hydrodechlorination of 2,4-DCP in cathodic compartment by H(2) generated at the cathode under 20 and 50 mA reached 100% at 120 and 60 min, respectively. Two column experiments with influent pHs of 5.5 (unconditioned) and 2 were conducted to evaluate the feasibility of this process. The 2,4-DCP removal efficiencies were about 63% and nearly 100% at influent pHs of 5.5 and 2, respectively. Phenol was solely produced by 2,4-DCP hydrodechlorination, and was subsequently degraded at the anode. A low pH could enhance the hydrodechlorination, but was not necessarily required. This study provides the preliminary results of a novel effective electrolytic process for the remediation of groundwater contaminated by chlorinated aromatics.