Thermal decomposition based fabrication of dimensionally stable Ti/SnO2–RuO2 anode for highly efficient electrocatalytic degradation of alizarin cyanin green

Abstract In this work, Ti/SnO2–RuO2 dimensionally stable anode has been successfully fabricated via thermal decomposition method and further used for highly efficient electrocatalytic degradation of alizarin cyanin green (ACG) dye wastewater. The morphology, crystal structure and composition of Ti/SnO2–RuO2 electrode are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), respectively. The result of accelerated life test suggests that as-prepared Ti/SnO2–RuO2 anode exhibits excellent electrochemical stability. Some parameters, such as reaction temperature, initial pH, electrode spacing and current density, have been investigated in detail to optimize the degradation condition of ACG. The results show that the decolorization efficiency and chemical oxygen demand removal efficiency of ACG reach up to 80.4% and 51.3% after only 40 min, respectively, under the optimal condition (reaction temperature 25 °C, pH 5, electrode spacing 1.0 cm and current density 3 mA cm−2). Furthermore, the kinetics analysis reveals that the process of electrocatalytic degradation of ACG follows the law of quasi-first-order kinetics. The excellent electrochemical activity demonstrates that the Ti/SnO2–RuO2 electrode presents a favorable application prospect in the electrochemical treatment of anthraquinone dye wastewater.