Loading NiCo alloy nanoparticles onto nanocarbon for electrocatalytic conversion of arsenite into arsenate

• Main Authors: Jing Guo, Suqin Ci, Pingwei Cai, Zhenhai Wen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2019-07-01
• Series: Electrochemistry Communications
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1388248119301407

Since trivalent arsenite (As III) is considerably more toxic and more difficult to remove from water than pentavalent arsenate (As V), conversion of As III into As V is regarded as an efficient strategy for mitigating arsenic pollution issues. Herein we report a precious-metal-free electrocatalyst with a three-dimensional (3D) structure produced by loading NiCo alloy nanoparticles onto nanocarbon (NiCoNPs/C). A range of techniques were used to characterize the morphology and structure of the NiCoNPs/C electrocatalyst, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Preliminary electrochemical tests demonstrate that the NiCoNPs/C shows a high activity toward electrochemical conversion of arsenite (As III) to arsenate (As V) with quite a high catalytic current at a rather low overpotential. Keywords: Electrocatalysis, Arsenite oxidation, NiCo alloy electrocatalysts