Abstract Metronidazole (MNZ) is one of the pharmaceutical products which is considered as one of the most important pollutants in the environment due to its wide use and resistance to biodegradation. Hence, the purpose of this study is the optimization of the electrochemical degradation of the metronidazole (MNZ) antibiotic using electrochemical oxidation on a stainless steel316 coated with beta lead oxide (SS316/β-PbO2) anode. In the studied electrochemical process, the response surface methodology (RSM) involving a five-level ((pH (A) and electrolysis time (B), current density (C), and MNZ concentration (D)). The central composite design (CCD) was employed for optimizing and modeling of the electrochemical process in the degradation of MNZ. The preparation of SS316/β-PbO2 anode was accomplished using the electro-deposition method. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses were conducted for accurate evaluation and characterization of the coated electrode. The effect of influencing factors on electrochemical degradation of MNZ was studied, and the highest MNZ degradation efficiency was observed to be 98.88% after 120 min under the optimal conditions including the supporting electrolyte concentration of 1.0 g/100 cc, the initial MNZ concentration of 30.1 mg/L, pH of 4 and the current density of 9.99 mA/cm2. The linear regression coefficient (R 2) between experiments and different response values in the model was 0.99. Moreover, the statistical analysis of the results indicated that in the range studied, the most effective parameters in MNZ degradation are MNZ concentration and pH. In general, it can be concluded that the electrochemical process using SS316/β-PbO2 anode can effectively eliminate metronidazole, and it can be considered as an efficient method in the degradation of various pollutants.

中文翻译：

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在涂有 β 氧化铅 (SS316/β-PbO2) 阳极的不锈钢 316 上使用电化学氧化对甲硝唑 (MNZ) 抗生素进行电化学降解

摘要 甲硝唑（MNZ）是一种医药产品，由于其用途广泛和抗生物降解性，被认为是环境中最重要的污染物之一。因此，本研究的目的是在涂有 β 氧化铅 (SS316/β-PbO2) 阳极的不锈钢 316 上使用电化学氧化优化甲硝唑 (MNZ) 抗生素的电化学降解。在所研究的电化学过程中，响应面方法（RSM）涉及五个水平（（pH（A）和电解时间（B）、电流密度（C）和MNZ浓度（D））。中心复合设计（采用CCD)对MNZ降解的电化学过程进行优化和建模，采用电沉积法制备SS316/β-PbO2阳极。进行了扫描电子显微镜 (SEM)、能量色散 X 射线 (EDX) 和 X 射线衍射 (XRD) 分析，以准确评估和表征涂层电极。研究了影响因素对MNZ电化学降解的影响，在支持电解质浓度为1.0 g/100 cc，初始MNZ浓度为30.1的最佳条件下，120 min后观察到最高的MNZ降解效率为98.88% mg/L，pH 值为 4，电流密度为 9.99 mA/cm2。模型中实验和不同响应值之间的线性回归系数 (R 2) 为 0.99。此外，结果的统计分析表明，在研究范围内，MNZ 降解的最有效参数是 MNZ 浓度和 pH 值。一般来说，