ELECTROCHEMICAL, PHOTOCHEMICAL AND PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL DEGRADATION OF SULFANILAMIDE, SULFADIAZINE AND SULFAMETHOXAZOLE USING SELF-DOPED TITANIUM NANOTUBE ELECTRODES AND DIMENSIONALLY STABLE ANODES.
Advanced oxidative processes; Emerging pollutants; Antibiotics; Cyclic voltammetry; Spectrophotometry; High performance liquid chromatography.
The vast production of chemical compounds, of natural or synthetic origin, and their multivariate applications have considerably affected the different environmental compartments and the health of humans and other animals. The world has been feeling the effects of the environmental fuel problem, which has intensified in recent years, with the diversification of industrial centers and the increase in world population. Among the AOPs, we can highlight the electrochemistry that has been used in the degradation of different pollutants and, also, the photochemistry, both approaches have been widely used in the removal of emerging pollutants. The present research performed photochemical, electrochemical and photoelectrochemical degradation of pollutants of emerging concern using dimensionally stable anodes (DSA®) and self-doped lever nanotubes (NTT-AD). DSA® electrodes were obtained commercially (DeNora do Brazil). The NTT-AD electrodes were obtained by anodizing membrane plates (Realum). All electrodes were characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray distribution spectroscopy (EDS). The photochemical degradation of the pollutants was carried out through the application of UV radiation; the electro-oxidation was carried out through the application of different current densities (10, 15 and 20 and 30 mA cm-2) and, finally, they were degraded through the interaction of both processes (photo-electrochemistry). The efficiency of degradation pollutants was consequent by means of UV/VIS absorption spectroscopy and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results showed that the techniques combined with each other are efficient in the degradation of the drug, however, it was also observed that UV radiation presents a satisfactory reduction.