Preparation and evaluation of Pd/polymeric pyrrole-sodium lauryl sulfonate/foam-Ni electrode for 2,4-dichlorophenol dechlorination in aqueous solution

Polymeric pyrrole-sodium lauryl sulfonate (PPy-SLS) composite film was applied to the preparation of palladium/foam-nickel (Pd/foam-Ni) electrode. The prepared Pd/PPy-SLS/foam-Ni electrode was characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The addition of SLS improved the polymerization of pyrrole to form PPy-SLS film, which was conducive to prepare small Pd microparticles and led to the lower Pd loading, 0.85 mg cm−2. The composite electrode was used for electrochemically reductive dechlorination of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) in aqueous solution. The influences of dechlorination current and initial pH value on the conversion efficiency and current the efficiency of 2,4-DCP dechlorination were studied. Complete dechlorination could be achieved on the Pd/PPy-SLS/foam-Ni electrode at ambient temperature under the condition of dechlorination current of 5 mA and initial pH value of 2.5 within 50 min. The electrode exhibits promising potential for dechlorination with high catalytic activity, good stability and low cost.