[Advances in the Application of Efficient Carbon-based Cathode Electro-Fenton Technology for Degrading Emerging...

Emerging contaminants （ECs） pose a serious threat to ecology and human health because of their low concentration， difficult degradation， long-term residue， bioaccumulation， and high toxicity. The traditional biological and physicochemical methods cannot effectively remove ECs. Electro-Fenton （EF）， as a green， environmentally friendly and high efficiency means for removing pollutants technology， has been widely used in the field of water treatment. Among them， the development of an efficient cathode electrode has proven to be one of the most simple and cost-effective methods， and carbonaceous materials have become one of the most promising cathode materials because of their excellent performance. However， the EF process is still limited by insufficient oxygen reduction capacity， low efficiency of the Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺ cycle， and narrow pH work range in the practical application. Based on this， this paper comprehensively summarizes the bottleneck problems encountered by carbonaceous materials cathode EF technology at present and the corresponding solutions. The main contents include the means and principles involved in promoting the electro-generation of H₂O₂， enhancing the efficiency of the Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺ cycle， and broadening the pH working window， and the practical application status of EF technology is expounded. In the end， some problems existing in this type of research and the areas that need to be improved in the future are listed， and the future research direction of carbonaceous cathode EF technology in the field of ECs degradation is prospected. This will provide a scientific basis for the development of efficient EF technology.