Efficiency study and mechanistic aspects in the Brilliant Green dye degradation using BDD/Ti electrodes

The production, characterization, and application of boron doped diamond grown on titanium substrates (BDD/Ti) are proposed in a systematic study taking into account the optimized parameters to produce high quality electrodes in a suitable doping level applied in the electrooxidation of the Brilliant Green dye. The process efficiency was analyzed as a function of the BDD doping levels as well as their sp(2) hybridization content in the film structures. A large set of sixteen BDD/Ti samples were applied in the electrooxidation experiments at constant current density of 100 mA cm(-2), using 100 mg L-1 of the Brilliant Green dye in K2SO4 0.1 mol L-1 solution for 300 min. The electrooxidation efficiency in the whole sample set was analyzed by UV/VIS Spectrophotometry and by Total Organic Carbon techniques considering the influence of the electrode characteristics in the degradation process. The results showed that all the electrodes were efficient in the solution discolorization and in the organic compound mineralization. However, BDD/Ti electrode with the lowest sp(2) content associated to the intermediate doping level presented the best results. A mechanist route for the dye degradation was proposed, using the normalized parameters for the best BDD electrode, from high performance liquid chromatography - mass spectroscopy analyses. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.