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Preparing porous Cu/Pd electrode on nickel foam using hydrogen bubbles dynamic template for high-efficiency and high-stability removal of nitrate from water

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Abstract

Electrochemical reduction is a promising technology to remove nitrate from water. The metallic composition and geometry of electrodes usually dominate the nitrate removal property. Based on nickel foam (NF), we prepared Cu/Pd bimetallic electrode using hydrogen bubbles dynamic template according to a two-step electrodeposition method (Pd after Cu). The micromorphology, crystal structure, and metallic composition were analyzed by using the field emission scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectroscopy (FESEM-EDS), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) instruments, respectively. 4.4 mg of Cu and 1.4 mg of Pd were detected on the prepared Cu/Pd electrode. The micromorphology of prepared Cu/Pd electrode showed a grape-bunch look with porous structure of two stage sizes (100–500 nm and 200–300 μm). 98% of the initial NO3−-N (100 mg/L) was removed under the potential of − 1.6 V vs. Ag/AgCl saturated KCl after 24 h of reaction when using 0.05 mol/L of Na2SO4 or NaCl as electrolyte. But the concentration of produced NH4+-N was higher than 80 mg/L when using Na2SO4 as electrolyte, which was close to 0 mg/L when using NaCl as electrolyte. The cyclic voltammetry curves of 1000 cycles and the long-term continuous flow test of about 200 h suggested that the prepared Cu/Pd electrode showed high stability for nitrate removal from water.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

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Funding

This research was financially funded by the Youth Science Foundation of Henan Normal University (No. 20200179) and the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (No. 2018M642758).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Control, School of Environment, Henan Normal University, NO. 64 Jianshe Road, **nxiang, 453007, People’s Republic of China

    Jialu Shi, Ya Gao, Daoru Liu, Zhanhui Shen, **g Fan, Yating Yu, Meihui Bao, Panpan Li & Rui Yao

  2. School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Daoru Liu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nan**g University, 163 **anlin Avenue, Nan**g, 210046, People’s Republic of China

    Zhanhui Shen

Authors
  1. Jialu Shi
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  2. Ya Gao
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  3. Daoru Liu
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  4. Zhanhui Shen
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  5. **g Fan
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  6. Yating Yu
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  7. Meihui Bao
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  8. Panpan Li
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  9. Rui Yao
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Contributions

Jialu Shi made a great contribution to the writing of the manuscript. Ya Gao analyzed the experiment data. Zhanhui Shen was the major writer of the manuscript. The elementary experiments were operated by Daoru Liu, **g Fan, Yating Yu, Meihui Bao, Panpan Li, and Rui Yao. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zhanhui Shen.

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Shi, J., Gao, Y., Liu, D. et al. Preparing porous Cu/Pd electrode on nickel foam using hydrogen bubbles dynamic template for high-efficiency and high-stability removal of nitrate from water. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 57629–57643 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19942-0

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