Developments in electrode materials for wastewater treatment

This review provides a current opinion about the most recent advances in the development of novel materials (i.e., anodes and cathodes), as well as new synthesis methodologies, which have been used in water and wastewater treatment by electrochemically driven oxidation technologies. The first section focuses on the advances to produce novel anodic materials comprising the active anodes — which play a key role in direct and indirect oxidation and the nonactive materials — which attract attention due to their high capacity to generate hydroxyl radicals. The second section describes recent progress on the novel emerging cathodic materials that are directly related to in situ electrogeneration of oxidants and are commonly applied in the electro-Fenton technology. Finally, the perspectives and prospects of these novel electrode materials for environmental applications are given.