A platform and system for concentration, reduction and regeneration of heavy metals and other contaminants from fluids is provided. The platform has a three-tiered hierarchical porous structure, composed of micropores formed by woven carbon cloth, nanopores formed after carbon nanotube growth on the cloth fibers and mesopores formed by a polymer outer layer. The material of the platform can be incorporated into cells with two electrodes with properly functionalized PDAN grafted 3D carbon as an anode and cathode respectively. Metal ions and toxic anions in water will be captured selectively by primary amine, secondary amine and quaternary amine groups in porous PDAN on the anode. Metals are captured and reduced by the cathode.

Devices, systems and methods for removing minerals from a conductive protonic fluid and creating oxidizers therein. A non-alternating flow of electrons in a conductive protonic fluid selectively precipitates hardness causing heavy minerals from the fluid. The decrease in hardness causing minerals leads to the protonic fluid moving towards a thermodynamic equilibrium that prevents precipitation of the noted hardness causing minerals. By-products from the process, like halogens, help oxidize other minerals and treat bio-life within the source. Systems include a vessel containing the conductive protonic fluid, a conductive protonic fluid flow mechanism, a power supply, a control mechanism, and one or more reaction chambers. The reaction chamber has at least one reaction chamber wall having a conductive surface and a conductive element. The power supply provides an electric field to the conductive protonic fluid in the reaction chamber such that the conductive surface and the conductive element have opposing charges which separate the conductive protonic fluid into negative and positive ions creating an ion gradient between the conductive element and conductive surface, resulting in a pH gradient between the conductive surface and the conductive element, thereby enhancing precipitation of the minerals on a positive end of the ion gradient.

A method and an apparatus for water treatment are disclosed. The method includes steps of associating an iron anode and a cathode with a stream of water, forming an alkaline environment around the iron anode by injecting an alkaline electrolyte solution into the stream of water upstream of the anode. The method also includes generating a solution plasma in the stream of water by applying a potential difference between the iron anode and the cathode.

An electrochemical method for separating impurities from aqueous solutions, comprises the steps of: Circulating an aqueous feed solution containing an impurity ion to a cathode chamber of an electrochemical cell containing a cathode; Circulating an acidic electrolyte solution to an anode chamber containing an anode; Separating the anode chamber from the cathode chamber with a central chamber, to form a 3-chamber cell, having an anion exchange membrane forming a boundary between the cathode chamber and the central chamber, and a cation exchange membrane forming a boundary between the anode chamber and the central chamber; Circulating or adding a chloride solution within or to the central chamber; Applying a current across the anode and cathode to facilitate hydrogen ions generated at the anode to migrate through the cation exchange membrane into the central chamber, and chloride ions generated in the cathode chamber to migrate across the anion exchange membrane to the central chamber to form hydrochloric acid; Wherein the impurity ions are precipitated as hydroxide compounds in the cathode chamber to produce an impurity depleted solution.

The present invention discloses a carbon dots-based photocatalytic electrode for simultaneous organic matter degradation and heavy metal reduction and preparation method and use thereof, which belong to the field of multifunctional environmental materials and water treatment. With respect to the insufficient ability of simultaneous organic matter degradation and heavy metal reduction of existing photocatalytic electrodes, the present application provides a photocatalytic electrode with a Z-type heterojunction structure constructed by using carbon dots (CDs) as an electronic assistant. The directional transfer ability of photo-generated electrons is improved, while the recombination efficiency of photo-generated electrons and holes is reduced. The performance of a photocatalytic electrode in simultaneous organic matter degradation and heavy metal reduction is thereby improved. The invention provides a scientific basis and technical support for developing highly-efficient photocatalytic electrode materials and ensuring water quality safety.

The present invention relates to a method for electrochemical purification of an aqueous solution comprising the steps of: providing a cathode and an anode to an aqueous solution, wherein said aqueous solution comprises soluble ions of at least one toxic heavy metal and wherein said cathode comprises an outer surface, which outer surface comprises a noble metal; applying an absolute potential to said cathode and wherein said absolute potential of said cathode drives the formation of an alloy comprising said noble metal and said at least one toxic heavy metal.

A filtration system for a pet water fountain is provided. The filtration system utilizes a pump placed within or along a watering bowl. The water filtration system also utilizes a multi-stage filtering device. In one aspect, the multi-stage filtering device includes a first filtering stage representing copper zinc alloy particles, and a second filtering stage representing granulated activated carbon particles. Each stage may constitute filtering material that is separated into an array of cells residing along a vertical frame or is separated into stages placed in series within a tubular cartridge. A method for filtering water in a pet fountain is also provided herein.

Catalysts prepared from abundant, cost effective metals, such as cobalt, nickel, chromium, manganese, iron, and copper, and containing one or more neutrally charged ligands (e.g., monodentate, bidentate, and/or polydentate ligands) and methods of making and using thereof are described herein. Exemplary ligands include, but are not limited to, phosphine ligands, nitrogen-based ligands, sulfur-based ligands, and/or arsenic-based ligands. In some embodiments, the catalyst is a cobalt-based catalyst or a nickel-based catalyst. The catalysts described herein are stable and active at neutral pH and in a wide range of buffers that are both weak and strong proton acceptors. While its activity is slightly lower than state of the art cobalt-based water oxidation catalysts under some conditions, it is capable of sustaining electrolysis at high applied potentials without a significant degradation in catalytic current. This enhanced robustness gives it an advantage in industrial and large-scale water electrolysis schemes.

This disclosure provides techniques for treatment of aqueous matrices using electrolysis to produce soluble metals. An aqueous matrix of interest is passed through an electrolysis device with at least one consumable electrode, which dissolves under applied current, transferring a desired reagent to the aqueous matrix of interest. In one embodiment, the electrolysis device is used in a water delivery network to passivate hexavalent chromium (Cr6) and/or convert it to trivalent chromium; the electrode can be made of food-grade metal tin, which is electrolyzed to form a stannous reagent, which then reacts with the Cr6. The disclosed techniques provide for Cr6 passivation without requiring the use of concentrated acids or other harmful substances. Long term reagent generation efficiency can be enhanced through the use of cleaning processes which maintain a fresh electrode surface in contact with the aqueous matrix of interest.

A method for reducing nitrates, nitrites, and/or hydroxylamine in water using a homogeneous reduced copper tetra-substituted fluorinated pinacolate ligand catalyst complex. The method includes dissolving a copper(II) tetra-substituted fluorinated pinacolate ligand pre-catalyst complex in water having an excess amount of nitrates, nitrites, and/or hydroxylamine therein. The dissolved copper(II) tetra-substituted fluorinated pinacolate ligand pre-catalyst complex in the water is subjected to electrochemical reduction to form a homogeneous reduced copper tetra-substituted fluorinated pinacolate ligand catalyst complex. The homogeneous reduced copper tetra-substituted fluorinated pinacolate ligand catalyst complex reduces the nitrates, nitrites, and/or hydroxylamine in the water to compounds with nitrogen in a lower oxidation state with the homogeneous reduced copper tetra-substituted fluorinated pinacolate ligand catalyst complex.