Degradation Efficiency and Mechanism Exploration of an Fe78Si9B13 Metallic Glass Cathode in the Electro-Fenton Degradation of p-NP

Fe-based metallic glass (MG) exhibits excellent performance as a heterogeneous catalyst in degradation but is rarely used as a working electrode in electro-Fenton (EF) systems. We used Fe78Si9B13MG as the working electrode to investigate the effect of the EF process on the degradation efficiency of p-nitrophenol (p-NP). The EF system had the highest catalytic efficiency (the reaction rate was 3.4 times that of chemical degradation) at a voltage of −1 V (vs. SCE) and showed 95.6% degradation of p-NP within 30 min. The electrode voltage accelerated the generation of hydroxyl radicals (·OH) in the system, thus promoting pollutant degradation. In addition, the Fe78Si9B13MG cathode demonstrated good structural stability and reusability after 10 cycles. Fe78Si9B13MG ribbons can serve as a suitable cathode material and provide potential optimization solutions for the degradation of organic pollutants.