Ni-Co bimetallic decorated dodecahedral ZIF as an efficient catalyst for photoelectrochemical degradation of sulfamethoxazole coupled with hydrogen production

Annadurai Thamilselvan; Van Dien Dang; Ruey-An Doong

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162208

Ni-Co bimetallic decorated dodecahedral ZIF as an efficient catalyst for photoelectrochemical degradation of sulfamethoxazole coupled with hydrogen production

Sci Total Environ. 2023 May 15:873:162208. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162208. Epub 2023 Feb 19.

Authors

Annadurai Thamilselvan¹, Van Dien Dang², Ruey-An Doong³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Analytical and Environmental Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan.
² Faculty of Biology and Environment, Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry, 140 Le Trong Tan, Tan Phu dist., Ho Chi Minh 700000, Viet Nam.
³ Institute of Analytical and Environmental Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan. Electronic address: radoong@mx.nthu.edu.tw.

PMID: 36801406
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162208

Abstract

In this work, a NiCo bimetallic ZIF (BMZIF) dodecahedron material has been synthesized by the precipitation approach and then used for simultaneously photoelectrocatalytic degradation of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and hydrogen production. The combination of Ni/Co loading in ZIF structure increased the specific surface area 1484 (m² g^-1) and photocurrent density (0.4 mA cm^-2), which can facilitate the good charge transfer efficiency. In presence of peroxymonosulfate (PMS, 0.1 mM), the complete degradation of SMX (10 mg L^-1) was achieved at initial pH of 7 within 24 min, with the pseudo-first-order rate constants of 0.18 min^-1 and TOC removal efficiency of 85 %. Radical scavenger experiments affirm that ^•OH radicals were the primary oxygen reactive species to drive the SMX degradation. Along with SMX degradation at the anode, the H₂ production was observed at the cathode (140 μmol cm^-2 h^-1), which was 1.5 and 3 times higher than that of Co-ZIF and Ni-ZIF, respectively. The superior catalytic performance of BMZIF was assigned to the distinctive internal structure and synergistic effect between ZIF and Ni/Co bimetals, which improves light absorption and charge conduction efficiency. This study may provide insight into the new way to treat polluted water and simultaneously produce green energy using bimetallic ZIF in a PEC system.

Keywords: Antibiotic degradation; Hydrogen production; Ni-Co bimetallic ZIF; Peroxymonosulfate; Photoelectrocatalysis.