In this work, the removal of Procion Red MX-5B dye by electrochemical oxidation with boron doped diamond (BDD) anodes was investigated. The impact of current density, flow rate, initial pH, and supporting electrolyte was evaluated on dye and organic matter removal. Furthermore, the use of dimensionally stable anodes (DSA) was tested to evaluate process performance. Results show that after 240 minutes, it is possible to achieve full dye and COD (chemical oxygen demand) removal, regardless of applied current density. This is due to the generation of powerful oxidantsi.e. hydroxyl radicals and peroxodisulfate-, which attack the organic matter in the wastewater, promoting its complete degradation. However, process efficiency increases when using lower current densities (10 mA cm-2): electric charges of about 5 Ah dm-3 are sufficient to fully remove both dye and COD, while charges higher than 15 Ah dm-3 are required when working at higher current densities (> 30 mA cm-2). This fact is related to the production of large amounts of hydroxyl radicals, which are wasted in other reactions at higher current densities. On the other hand, higher flow rates (300 dm 3 h-1) promote Procion Red MX-5B and organic matter degradation, due to improved mass transfer within the system. Regarding the impact of initial pH on dye removal, no significant differences were observed. Conversely, COD is clearly affected by this parameter: it is only possible to fully remove the organic matter when working at natural pH. Finally, with DSA anodes, higher dye removal efficiencies are attained than with BDD electrodes, when 100 mg dm-3 chlorides are added to the supporting electrolyte. Likewise, higher chloride concentration (100-1000 mg dm-3) was observed to enhance process efficiency when using DSA as anode material. However, during electrolysis with both BDD and DSA, chloride ions in the supporting electrolyte promote the production of 3 intermediate organochlorinated compounds. Therefore, under these conditions, no full organic matter removal can be achieved, regardless of the anode material employed.

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This study presents a physically-based model for the impedance simulation of the oxygen reduction reaction in porous strontium-doped lanthanum manganite (LSM) cathodes. The model describes the surface mechanism only, taking into account the co-limited adsorption/diffusion of oxygen and the charge-transfer reaction at the three-phase boundary (TPB). After calibration with experimental impedance spectra, the model is used to identify the transition of kinetic regime from the surface to the bulk path mechanism, which occurs at cathodic dc bias of ca. 0.2. V within 700-800. C. The transition is highlighted by a significant decrease in impedance and the appearance of a low-frequency inductive loop. The model consistently reproduces the impedance spectra before the transition of kinetic regime with a single set of parameters, allowing for the deconvolution of two features, one associated with the co-limited adsorption/diffusion process (ca. 5. Hz) and another minor contribution due to the charge-transfer at the TPB (ca. 35. Hz). The model and its parameters, which quantitatively agree with the literature, can be used as a basis to optimize the microstructural and surface properties of technical LSM-based cathodes, showing that the TPB length is not the main parameter to be maximized

The two half-cell systems were compared to evaluate the influence of infiltration, overpotential and ageing on their performance and stability. Structure, microstructure and chemical composition were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), whereas redox behavior was evaluated through temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) in combination with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), which was also used to test the electrochemical performance. A decrease of polarization resistance for both infiltrated electrodes, compared to the reference ones, was highlighted at open circuit voltage (OCV), although the BSCF-based cathode was more benefitted more from infiltration than the LSCF-based one. Moreover, the application of cathodic overpotentials (−0.1 to −0.3 V) resulted in opposite effects on the LSCF-and BSCF-based cathodes, highlighting a different response of the oxygen vacancies to the applied voltage for the two perovskite compositions. The positive effect of the LSM layer was further confirmed by the observed improvement in long-term stability of both infiltrated perovskite-type systems. 1 They exhibit mixed ionic and electronic conductivity, with excellent charge and mass transfer properties 2 and high oxygen exchange surface coefficients. 3 Their excellent activity for oxygen reduction has been proved widely. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Although the structure and electrochemical processes of LSCF and BSCF are quite different, both of them have long-term stability and redox behavior issues to be clarified, in order to be used as cathode materials in commercial devices. Indeed, when used as cathodes in intermediate-temperatures solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs), they suffer from chemical and structural instability, which causes degradation during operation time. Moreover, the correlation between their redox behavior under electrochemical operating conditions is still unclear. Many studies have been devoted to investigating LSCF degradation and several causes have been reported, among them: i) mutual cations diffusion between interfaces with consequent atoms depletion and phase separation, [11][12][13][14][15][16] ii) LSCF grain coarsening, 17 iii) reactivity with YSZ-based electrolytes, even with ceria-based barrier layer, 18 iv) impurity contamination, namely Cr from metal interconnects and B from sealing when the cell is inside a stack.19-21 Some recent work performed on an LSCF/CGO (Ce 0.9 Gd 0.1 O 2-δ ) composite cathode on a YSZ electrolyte with a CGO barrier layer 11 affirms that Sr depletion, phase separation and cations inter-diffusion occur mainly during the fabrication process, with negligible contributions during long-term * Electrochemical Society Member.e Present Address: R&D Manufacturing Support Dept., Ansaldo Energia, Via Nicola Lorenzi 8, I-16152 Genoa. z E-mail: carpanese@unige.it operation (973 K). On the other hand, some previous works conversely found that LS...

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