L. Gherardini et al., Electrochemical oxidation of 4-chlorophenol for wastewater treatment - Definition of normalized current efficiency (phi), J ELCHEM SO, 148(6), 2001, pp. D78-D82
The electrochemical behavior of lead dioxide and synthetic boron-doped diam
ond thin film electrodes (BDDs) has been studied in acid media containing 4
-chlorophenol (4-CP) by bulk electrolysis under different experimental cond
itions. In order to quantify the electrochemical activity of a given electr
ode, for the electrochemical oxidation of organic compounds (4-CP), the cur
rent efficiency of the anodic oxidation has been normalized taking into con
sideration mass-transport limitations. The normalized current efficiency (p
hi) has been defined as the ratio between the current efficiency of the inv
estigated anode to the current efficiency of an ideal anode which has a ver
y fast oxidation rate, resulting in a complete combustion of organics to ca
rbon dioxide. The results have shown that even if the complete combustion o
f 4-chlorophenol has been achieved at both lead dioxide and boron-doped dia
mond anodes, the latter give higher f. The difference in reactivity of the
electrogenerated hydroxyl radicals on the anode surface, has been proposed
to explain the high f values obtained using boron-doped diamond anodes. (C)
2001 The Electrochemical Society.