Self-powered electrochemical water treatment system for pollutant degradation and bacterial inactivation based on high-efficient Co(OH)₂/Pt electrocatalyst

Electrochemical system with electro-Fenton reaction is an effective pathway for oxidative degradation of refractory organic pollutants for water treatment. However, the method is limited by the low catalytic efficiency and high electrical cost in practical applications. This work presents a self-powered and high-efficient electrochemical system for water treatment including pollutant degradation and bacterial inactivation, which is composed of a self-powered triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) converting mechanical energy into electrical energy, a power management circuit integrated with a supercapacitor to store the harvesting electrical energy temporarily, and an electrochemical setup integrated with two-dimentional Co(OH)₂/Pt nanosheet as electrocatalyst. The nanocatalyst, ultrafine Pt nanoparticles (Pt NPs) loaded on Co(OH)₂ nanosheet (Co(OH)₂/Pt), is synthesized by a facile one step hydrothermal reaction without any surfactant, which can improve H₂O₂ and hydroxyl radical production via redox reaction. This self-powered electrocatalytic system is able to degrade nearly 100% of organic pollutant within 100 min, and efficiently kill bacteria. This work shows great potential to develop high-efficient and self-powered electrochemical water treatment system through integrating TENG and nanocatalyst. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]