Tetrabromobisphenol A photoelectrocatalytic degradation using reduced graphene oxide and cerium dioxide comodified TiO2 nanotube arrays as electrode under visible light

• CeO2 and RGO co-modified TiO2 nanotube arrays were easily prepared.
• RGO-CeO2-TNAs exhibited excellent PEC activity for TBBPA.
• RGO-CeO2-TNAs exhibited excellent stability and reusability.

Tetrabromobisphenol A, one of the most important brominated retardants, is an typical persistent organic pollutant and it is of great value to develop rapid and effective degradation method. Present study established a photoelectrodegradation method with CeO2 and reduced graphene oxide co-modified TiO2 nanotube arrays (RGO-CeO2-TiO2 NAs), which were successfully synthesized and characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X Ray Spectrometry (EDX). The SEM Images revealed that the nanotubes had a diameter of about 100 nm and an obvious layer of CeO2 and RGO on the surface of TiO2 nanotube arrays. The EDX data exhibited the presence of Ce element. The results demonstrated that TBBPA was degraded at a high degradation rate constant of 0.0191 min−1, and photogenerated holes played a major role in the degradation reaction. Significant decrease of degradation efficiency was achieved with the presence of EDTA-2Na(hole scavenger), yet while the existence of t-BuOH(OH scavenger) resulted in less inhibition on the degradation. Besides, RGO-CeO2-TiO2 NAs exhibited good stability with rarely decline of degradation efficiency for ten reused runs. All these indicated that RGO-CeO2-TiO2 NAs were a good catalyst with extraordinary catalytic activity and stability for PEC degradation, and would have great potential in the control and removal of pollutants.