Synthesis of nanostructured ZnO/copper electrodes for nitrate electroreduction

Nadia Ait-Ahmed (1) , H. Hammache (1) , Marielle Eyraud (2) , L. Makhloufi (1) , N. Gabouze (3)

1 LECVE - Laboratoire d'Electrochimie, Corrosion et de Valorisation Energétique [Université de Béjaïa]
2 MADIREL - Matériaux divisés, interfaces, réactivité, électrochimie
3 UDTS - Unité de Développement de la Technologie du Silicium

In this work, ZnO thin films were synthesized on the surface of copper electrodes by an electrochemical method at different deposition potentials-0.6,-0.8,-1 and-1,2 V versus SCE. The as-prepared ZnO modified Cu electrodes (ZnO/Cu) have been employed for electrocatalytic nitrate reduction under neutral pH (pH =6.8) condition in 0.1 M KNO 3 using cyclic voltammetry and amperometry techniques. The electrode surface and structure were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The effects of the electrodeposition potential and time on the morphology, structure and electrocatalytic properties were studied. The results show that under optimized ZnO electrodeposition conditions, the ZnO/Cu electrode exhibits interesting electrocatalytic performance in nitrate reduction. A well defined and reproducible peak with maximum current density was obtained for ZnO/Cu electrode elaborated at-1V for 20 min electrodeposition time. Kinetic study by chronoamperometry is indicative of ammonia formation.

Keywords: ZnO; Electrodeposition; Copper; Electrocatalysis; Nitrate reduction Keywords: ZnO

Domains: Chemical Sciences; Material chemistry

Nadia Ait-Ahmed, H. Hammache, Marielle Eyraud, L. Makhloufi, N. Gabouze. Synthesis of nanostructured ZnO/copper electrodes for nitrate electroreduction. Desalination and Water Treatment, 2017. ⟨hal-01674713⟩