Effects of porosity on the electrochemical oxidation performance of Ti4O7 electrode materials

Ti4O7 is a kind of conductive ceramic material with a high electrical conductivity and excellent electrochemical performance, rendering it a potential candidate for electrode applications. Here, for the first time, we report the successful preparation of Ti4O7 electrodes with different porosities by adding a pore-forming agent. The results showed that the as-prepared Ti4O7 electrodes contained both mesoporous and macroporous structures. In addition, with an increase in the porosity of the electrodes, the electrochemical oxidation degradation of high-concentration methyl orange (MO) solution first increased, until reaching a critical point, and then decreased. The Ti4O7 electrode with a porosity of 34.9% and an electrical conductivity of 336.1 S cm-1 exhibited the highest electrochemical oxidation ability. The electrochemical oxidation rate constants for MO and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the porous Ti4O7 electrode were 1.7 times those of the dense Ti4O7 electrode. Compared to commercial stainless steel, graphite, and Ti/RuO2 electrodes, the Ti4O7 porous electrode showed superior electrochemical oxidation performance under the same experimental conditions. The result of this study provide new directions for the application of Ti4O7 electrode materials.