Synergistic enhancement in photoelectrocatalytic degradation of bisphenol A by CeO2 and reduced graphene oxide co-modified TiO2 nanotube arrays in combination with Fenton oxidation

Present study described a high performance and rapid degradation technique for bisphenol A under simulated solar light irradiation by photoelectrocatalytic degradation with CeO2 and reduced graphene oxide co-modified TiO2 nanotube arrays (RGO-CeO2-TNAs) in combination with Fenton reaction. In the photoelectrocatalytic system (PEC), CeO2 and reduced graphene oxide co-modification significantly improved the degradation efficiency due to the synergistic effect of them. With the introduction of Fenton reaction, the expected further effective enhancement of degradation efficiency was achieved. Under the optimal condition, the degradation of BPA reached a high reaction rate constant of 0.0146 min−1. In comparison, photoelectrocatalytic process exhibited higher degradation efficiency than that of photocatalytic-Fenton (PC-Fenton), electrocatalytic-Fenton (EC-Fenton) and Fenton processes. The stability and reusability of RGO-CeO2-TNAs was investigated and the results demonstrated that rarely decline of degradation efficiency was achieved and the degradation efficiencies of the repeated degradation experiments were all over 80% for ten runs. All these indicated that there was markedly synergistic enhancement effect between Fenton reaction and PEC process using RGO-CeO2-TNAs as the photoelectrode for degradation of bisphenol A. All these results indicated thatpresent method provided a potential powerful tool for the control and removal of bisphenol A and other pollutants in the future.