Synergistic enhancement in photoelectrocatalytic degradation of bisphenol A by CeO2 and reduced graphene oxide co-modified TiO2 nanotube arrays in combination with Fenton oxidation

Present study described a high performance and rapid degradation technique for bisphenol A under simulated solar light irradiation by photoelectrocatalytic degradation with CeO 2 and reduced graphene oxide co-modified TiO 2 nanotube arrays (RGO-CeO 2 -TNAs) in combination with Fenton reaction. In the photoelectrocatalytic system (PEC), CeO 2 and reduced graphene oxide co-modification significantly improved the degradation efficiency due to the synergistic effect of them. With the introduction of Fenton reaction , the expected further effective enhancement of degradation efficiency was achieved. Under the optimal condition, the degradation of BPA reached a high reaction rate constant of 0.0146   min −1 . In comparison, photoelectrocatalytic process exhibited higher degradation efficiency than that of photocatalytic-Fenton (PC-Fenton), electrocatalytic-Fenton (EC-Fenton) and Fenton processes. The stability and reusability of RGO-CeO 2 -TNAs was investigated and the results demonstrated that rarely decline of degradation efficiency was achieved and the degradation efficiencies of the repeated degradation experiments were all over 80% for ten runs. All these indicated that there was markedly synergistic enhancement effect between Fenton reaction and PEC process using RGO-CeO 2 -TNAs as the photoelectrode for degradation of bisphenol A. All these results indicated thatpresent method provided a potential powerful tool for the control and removal of bisphenol A and other pollutants in the future.