Preparation of catalytic particle electrodes from steel slag and its performance in a three-dimensional electrochemical oxidation system

Catalytic particle electrodes (CPEs) were developed from steel slag waste, and were used to degrade Rhodamine B (RhB). To improve degradation efficiency, Mn-loaded CPEs with good reproductive performance were constructed through ultrasound impregnation–calcination strategy. The resulting samples were characterized by XRF, SEM, EDS, XPS and XRD. Degradation efficiency of the systems with Mn-loaded CPEs were 93.22% without air supply in 80 min. And degradation efficiency for Mn-loaded CPEs reached 100% with air supply in 50 min. Furthermore, the enhanced mechanism was proposed. The high degradation efficiency could be ascribed to the increase of hydroxyl radicals originated from electro-Fenton.