Preparation of Cu/GO/Ti electrode by electrodeposition and its enhanced electrochemical reduction for aqueous nitrate

A Cu/GO/Ti electrode was prepared by electrodeposition for removal of nitrate by means of the electrochemical reduction. The structure, morphology and characteristics of the electrode were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy (RS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electrochemical workstation, and Cu/GO/Ti was used as the cathode to remove nitrate in water by electrochemical process. Characterization results indicated that GO was successfully deposited on the Ti plate and it was partially reduced to reduced graphene. Dendritic and granular Cu particles are agglomerated on the surface of GO layer by chemical interaction in the form of metallic Cu, Cu2O and CuO, and the dendrite Cu layer increased the specific surface area of Cu layer. The addition of GO layer increases the electroreduction activity for nitrate. Furthermore, through comparison with Cu/Ti electrode, Cu/GO/Ti electrode improved the percentage of nitrate removal from 78.8% to 91.5%, and energy consumption decreased from 0.82 to 0.47 kW h/g NO3−-N. The present results showed the promising application of GO-based electrodes with Cu in electrocatalytic nitrate removal.