Enhancing electrocatalytic performance of Sb-doped SnO2 electrode by compositing nitrogen-doped graphene nanosheets

An efficient Ti/Sb-SnO2 electrode modified with nitrogen-doped graphene nanosheets (NGNS) was successfully fabricated by the sol-gel and dip coating method. Compared with Ti/Sb-SnO2 electrode, the NGNS-modified electrode possesses smaller unite crystalline volume (71.11 Å3 vs. 71.32 Å3), smaller electrical resistivity (13 Ω m vs. 34 Ω m), and lower charge transfer resistance (10.91 Ω vs. 21.01 Ω). The accelerated lifetime of Ti/Sb-SnO2-NGNS electrode is prolonged significantly, which is 4.45 times as long as that of Ti/Sb-SnO2 electrode. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurement and voltammetric charge analysis indicate that introducing NGNS into the active coating can increase more reaction active sites to enhance the electrocatalytic efficiency. The electrochemical dye decolorization analysis demonstrates that Ti/Sb-SnO2-NGNS presents efficient electrocatalytic performance for methylene blue and orange II decolorization. And its pseudo-first order kinetic rate constants for methylene blue and orange II decolorization are 36.6 and 44.0 min−1, respectively, which are 6.0 and 7.1 times as efficient as those of Ti/Sb-SnO2, respectively. Considering the significant electrocatalytic activity and low resistivity of Ti/Sb-SnO2-NGNS electrode, the cost of wastewater treatment can be expected to be reduced obviously and the application prospect is broad.