Novel Sb-SnO 2 Electrode with Ti 3+ Self-Doped Urchin-Like Rutile TiO 2 Nanoclusters as the Interlayer for the Effective Degradation of Dye Pollutants.

Stable and efficient SnO 2 electrodes are very promising for effectively degrading refractory organic pollutants in wastewater treatment. In this regard, we firstly prepared Ti 3+ self-doped urchin-like rutile TiO 2 nanoclusters (TiO 2-x NCs) on a Ti mesh substrate by hydrothermal and electroreduction to serve as an interlayer for the deposition of Sb-SnO 2 . The TiO 2-x NCs/Sb-SnO 2 anode exhibited a high oxygen evolution potential (2.63 V vs. SCE) and strong ⋅OH generation ability for the enhanced amount of absorbed oxygen species. Thus, the degradation results demonstrated its good rhodamine B (RhB), methylene blue (MB), alizarin yellow R (AYR), and methyl orange (MO) removal performance, with the rate constant increased 5.0, 1.9, 1.9, and 4.7 times, respectively, compared to the control Sb-SnO 2 electrode. RhB and AYR degradation mechanisms are also proposed based on the results of high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry and quenching experiments. More importantly, this unique rutile interlayer prolonged the anode lifetime sixfold, given its good lattice match with SnO 2 and the three-dimensional concave-convex structure. Consequently, this work paves a new way for designing the crystal form and structure of the interlayers to obtain efficient and stable SnO 2 electrodes for addressing dye wastewater problems.