Toward the treatment of bisphenol F in real water matrices: Assessing the potential of electrochemically-driven UVC/e-H2O2

In this study, the electrogeneration capacity of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) was evaluated using an unmodified Printex L6 carbon-based gas diffusion electrode (GDE) and a GDE modified with SnO 2 and Nb 2 O 5 (GDE-m). The GDE-m exhibited superior performance, achieving ~1.2-fold higher accumulated H 2 O 2 concentrations under all tested conditions. Subsequently, the GDE-m was applied in different electrochemical advanced oxidation processes for the degradation of bisphenol F (BPF): anodic oxidation with electrogenerated H 2 O 2 (e-H 2 O 2 ), and UVC-activated e-H 2 O 2 (UVC/e-H 2 O 2 ), at three current densities (50, 75, and 100 mA cm −2 ). Isolated processes (photolysis and anodic oxidation) achieved limited removal efficiency (< 25%), while e-H 2 O 2 reached up to 78% abatement at 100 mA cm −2 after 90 min. The UVC/e-H 2 O 2 process showed superior performance, with 86% removal at 50 mA cm −2 and complete BPF elimination within 30 min (75 mA cm −2 ) and 15 min (100 mA cm −2 ). Finally, the UVC/e-H 2 O 2 process was evaluated in different aqueous matrices: deionized water (DI), tap water (TW), and lake water (LW). In TW, the fastest BPF degradation was observed, (100% in 45 min at 50 and 75 mA cm −2 ), likely due to the combined influence of dissolved inorganic species, alkalinity, and pH, which may affect reactive oxidant generation and stability. In contrast, DI showed lower mineralization efficiency, while LW exhibited poorer performance (77.4% at 50 mA cm −2 after 90 min). These results highlight UVC/e-H 2 O 2 as a promising alternative for rapid BPF abatement, while also indicating that mineralization efficiency and by-product formation must be considered when applying the process to complex water matrices.