In Situ Electrochemical Synthesis of Squamous-like Cu 2 S Induced by Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria as a Fenton-like Catalyst in Wastewater Treatment: Catalytic Performance and Mechanism.

In this paper, a novel method was proposed for the synthesis of Cu 2 S on copper mesh via electrolysis in SRB culture medium. It was found that following electrolysis in SRB medium, squamous-like Cu 2 S arrays were obtained on the copper mesh, and the Cu 2 S loading contents varied with the electrolyzing parameters. The resultant Cu 2 S on copper mesh in SRB (CSCM-SRB) with the highest catalytic MB degradation properties was produced by electrolysis at 3.75 mA/cm 2 for 900 s. The optimized MB-degrading conditions were determined to be 1.2 cm 2 /mL CSCM-SRB with 0.05 M H 2 O 2 at 35 °C when pH = 6, under which the degradation of MB reached over 99% after 120 min of reaction. Disinfecting properties was also proven by antibacterial tests, revealing that an almost 100% antibacterial rate against E. coli was obtained after 8 min. The organic compounds produced by SRB adsorbed on CSCM-SRB strongly promoted the degradation of MB. Furthermore, possible Fenton-like mechanisms of CSCM-SRB were proposed, illustrating that ·O 2 - , ·OH, and 1 O 2 acted as the main functional species during Fenton-like reactions, leading to effective MB degradation and high antibacterial properties. Finally, a simple device for wastewater treatment was designed, providing possible applications in real environments.