LAUSR

To eliminate the requirement for inorganic salt in electrochemical processes, the present study reports the use of ion-exchange resin (IX) matrix to conduct H+ or OH– produced during electrolysis for electrochemical degradation of refractory organic pollutants via the generation of reactive oxygen species at room temperature. The results demonstrated that, with the increase in applied voltage over the range of 0–30 V, there was almost no response of current for deionized water as well as chloromethylated bead due to the lack of free mobile ions. On the contrary, both cation exchange resin (CX) and anion exchange resin (AX) showed comparable current response to voltage as sodium sulfate electrolyte. In the absence of salt addition, the CX or AX could achieve effective degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), accounting for degradation efficiency higher than 97% after 90 min at current density of 5 mA/cm2. The performances of IX-based electrochemical system decreased slightly after 20 cycles of experime...