Bridging Frontier Research and Undergraduate Teaching: A Multisemester Capstone Project on Electrochemical Advanced Oxidation of Refractory Organic Pollutants Driven by Industry–University Collaboration

Electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs) are central to modern environmental remediation, yet they remain nearly absent from undergraduate physical chemistry and environmental chemistry curricula. This work reports a four-week capstone course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) on the electrocatalytic degradation of refractory organic pollutants, rhodamine B, methylene blue, and levofloxacin model effluents, implemented at a regional Chinese university across four academic years (2022–2025; n = 86). Each team fabricates a Ti/SnO2–Sb2O3 dimensionally stable anode and applies it across three competing EAOP variants (continuous anodic oxidation, continuous electro-Fenton, and pulsed-current electro-Fenton), organized under a “Research → Competition → Entrepreneurship” pedagogy mapped onto the five-feature CURE schema. Authentic effluent samples and horizontal-research funding supplied by four wastewater-treatment partner companies generate a financial closed loop that decouples the laboratory from fluctuating institutional budgets. The primary task-based measure, cohort mean scores on a 13-criterion analytic rubric, rose from 74.1/100 (Cohort 2022) to 85.6/100 (Cohort 2025), with the largest gains in mechanistic reasoning, kinetic data analysis, and linkage of results to the partner company context. A 14-item pre/post Likert questionnaire, used as supplementary triangulation, showed self-efficacy gains consistent with the rubric results. Downstream outputs include student first-authored papers in indexed environmental science journals, multiple provincial- and national-level innovation awards, and one student-led environmental technology startup. A laboratory instructor guide that includes the rubric, the bilingual pre/post questionnaire, hazard documentation, a line-item cost breakdown, and a step-by-step adaptation guide is provided in the Supporting Information.