An electrolyte-free system for ozone generation using heavily boron-doped diamond electrodes

•An electrolyte-free system of electrochemical ozone generation was developed.•Heavily boron-doped BDD with sp2 impurities is the most suitable electrodes.•Excellent stability of the BDD's structure was the factor of the superior properties.

An electrolyte-free system for electrochemical ozone generation was developed using boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes as the anode and cathodes in combination with Nafion® N117/H+ as the separating membrane. Trials using BDD with various B/C ratios suggested that heavily boron-doped BDD with sp2 impurities yielded high concentration of ozone. Further experiments by replacement of the feedstock solutions with 0.85 M Na2SO4 or 0.85 M NaCl resulted in no significant difference, suggesting that the use of pure water as the feedstock is the most appropriate method for ozone production. A high efficiency could be achieved by applying water as a feedstock for the anode and the cathode chambers. In addition, comparison with Pt electrodes confirmed that the excellent structural stability of BDD was the main factor contributing to this success.

Graphical abstractAn electrolyte-free system for electrochemical ozone generation was successfully developed using boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide