Performance Evaluation of Active and Non-active Electrodes for Doxorubicin Electro-oxidation

Electrochemical remediation is an innovative technique that utilizes electro-oxidation reactions to degrade micropollutants such as doxorubicin (DOX) that is a drug widely used to treat many types of cancer,  and it is present in hospital effluents. The aim   of this work is to evaluate the efficiency of active and non-active electrodes in DOX degradation during electrochemical treatments. AuO-TiO2@graphite, a nanostructured electrode, and BDD, a commercial electrode, were used as active and non-active electrodes respectively. DOX treatments were realized at concentration of 1.25 mmol L-1 in medium with 10 mmol L-1 NaCl as support electrolyte. Studies were realized in 5 V of voltage source. Results: The treatment of DOX with BDD promoted 100% of DOX degradation in 20 min, while the same result was obtained for the AuO-TiO2@graphite in 40 min of treatment. Also, the modified electrode presented an energy expenditure of 1.12 kWh m-3 and the BDD achieved 0.462 kWh m-3. Thus, the active and non-active electrodes were efficient to promote DOX degradation, and the BDD, the non-active electrode demonstrated a better performance. Keywords: Eletro-Oxidadion, Modified Graphite Anodes, BDD, Doxorubicin, Micropollutants