Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) is widely used as a disinfectant
agent
for water treatment and surface cleaning. A straightforward way to
produce NaOCl is by the electrolysis of an aqueous sodium chloride
(NaCl) solution. This process presents several side reactions decreasing
its efficiency with hypochlorite reduction on the cathode surface
being one of the main detrimental reactions. In this work, we have
studied carbon-based electrodes modified with cerium oxide (CeO2), fluorine, and platinum nanoparticles as cathodes for hypochlorite
production. Fluorination was carried out electrochemically; the polyol
method was used to synthesize platinum nanoparticles; and the hydrothermal
process was applied to form a CeO2 layer. Scanning electron
microscopy, FTIR, and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) indicated the
presence of cerium oxide as a film, fluorine groups on the substrate,
and a load of 3.2 mg/cm2 of platinum nanoparticles and
2.7 mg/cm2 of CeO2. From electrochemical impedance
spectroscopy, it was possible to demonstrate that incorporating platinum
and fluorine decreases the charge transfer resistance by 16% and 28%,
respectively. Linear sweep voltammetry showed a significant decrease
in hypochlorite reduction when the substrate was doped with fluorine
from −16.6 mA/cm2 at −0.6 V to −9.64
mA/cm2 that further reduced to −8.78 mA/cm2 with cerium oxide covered fluorinated electrodes. The performance
of the cathode materials during hypochlorite production improved by
80% compared with pristine activated carbon cloth (ACC) electrodes.
The improvement toward hindering NaOCl reduction is probably caused
by the incorporation of a partial negative charge upon doping with
fluorine.
The search for new energy sources together with the need to control greenhouse gas emissions has led to continued interest in low-emitting renewable energy technologies. In this context, water splitting...
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