Preparation of Co/Ti electrode by electro-deposition for aqueous nitrate reduction

A Co/Ti electrode for nitrate reduction was prepared by electrode-deposition. In the single-compartment electrolysis cell, nitrate (100 mg/L) removal reached nearly 100% after 3 h electrolysis under the current density of 20 mA cm–2 by using the Co/Ti electrode as cathode, and the main reduction products were ammonium nitrogen (66.5%) and nitrogen gas (33.5%). This performance on nitrate removal was comparable to a Co3O4/Ti electrode, and the electroactivity of the Co/Ti electrode towards nitrite reduction was higher than that of a Co3O4/Ti electrode. The Co/Ti electrode exhibited an improved stability with 18.7% of mass loss and 25.5% of Co dissolution compared with the Co3O4/Ti electrode after ultrasonic interference. The presence of chlorine ion (1,000 mg/L) could promote the total nitrogen (TN) removal to approximately 100% after 3 h electrolysis because of the ammonium oxidation by the free chlorine produced from the anode. In the presence of calcium (50 mg/L) and phosphate (0.5 mg/L), the nitrate removal decreased from 85.4 ± 1.5 to 57.7 ± 3.5% after ten reuse cycles. This result suggests that Ca and P should be pre-removed before the electro-reduction of nitrate.