Herein, we designed a flow-through photoelectrochemical system consisting of a TiO₂-nanotubes-array-mesh filter to achieve ultra-fast detoxification of highly toxic Sb(III). Upon application of UV-LED irradiation and an electrical field, in situ conversion of Sb(III) to less toxic Sb(V) can be achieved with a single-pass through the filter (τ < 2 sec). We identified an evident synergistic effect between electrochemical and photocatalytic processes. The detoxification efficiency enhanced with an increase in applied voltage from 22.6% (at 0 V) to 96.7% (at 1.5 V). This could be the combined advantages of filter’s flow-through design, photoelectrochemical activity of the filter, and decreased charge recombination rate. The EPR analysis proved that hydroxyl radical dominated the process of Sb(III) conversion. At 1.5 V, 800 μg/L Sb(III)-spiked tap water still maintained an >95.6% Sb(III) oxidation efficiency. Overall, this study established a novel, effective, and promising photoelectrochemical system to accomplish the second-level detoxification of highly toxic Sb(III).

在这里，我们设计了一种由TiO _2-纳米管阵列网状过滤器组成的流通光电化学系统，以实现对剧毒Sb（III）的超快速排毒。在UV-LED照射的应用程序和一个电场，原位单次通过过滤器即可将Sb（III）转化为毒性较低的Sb（V）（τ<2秒）。我们确定了电化学和光催化过程之间的明显协同效应。排毒效率随着施加电压从22.6％（在0 V时）增加到96.7％（在1.5 V时）而提高。这可能是过滤器的流通设计，过滤器的光电化学活性以及降低的电荷复合率的综合优势。EPR分析证明，羟基自由基主导了Sb（III）的转化过程。在1.5 V时，掺有Sb（III）的800μg/ L自来水仍保持> 95.6％的Sb（III）氧化效率。总体而言，这项研究建立了一个新颖，有效和有前途的光电化学系统，以完成高毒性Sb（III）的第二级排毒。