High-efficiency electrochemical degradation of phenol in aqueous solutions using Ni-PPy and Cu-PPy composite materials

Abstract

Conductive crystalline polypyrrole (Cryst-PPy), Nickel-polypyrrole (Ni-PPy), and copper- polypyrole (Cu-PPy) hybrid materials were prepared using a chemical polymerization method in an aqueous solution. Part I was focused on the Chemical synthesis of Cryst-PPy powder from an organic medium. Cryst-PPy powder was successfully synthesized by chemical route from an organic medium of acetonitrile with polyethylene oxide as a stabilizing agent and oxidizing agent like potassium peroxydisulfate. The morphological study was showed the presence of spherical nanoparticles and cubic microparticles giving rise to a denser structure of PPy. In the second part, the based electrodes composites were examined in the oxidation of phenol by an electrochemical process in an alkaline medium. To follow the yield of phenol degradation at the alkaline solution, UV-visible analysis was performed at the following operating conditions: current density of 0.58 mA cm^-2, phenol initial concentration of 0.150 M and for 3 h processing; the rate of phenol elimination was 56%, 38% and 28% for Cu-PPy, Ni-PPy, and pure PPy electrodes respectively. Thus, can be found that the doped Cu-PPy electrodes electrode is a new material with high electrochemical oxidation ability for phenol degradation in aqueous solutions.

Keywords: Crystalline polypyrrole; Cu-PPy; Electrochemical degradation; Ni-PPy; Phenol.