A sustainable photocatalytic fuel cell integrated photo-electro-Fenton hybrid system using KOH activated carbon felt cathodes for enhanced Amaranth degradation and electricity generation

[Display omitted] •KOH activated CF improved the overall performance of PFC-PEF system.•KOH enhanced the hydrophilic property of the CF surface.•Generation of OH was enhanced through improved ORR reactivity of KOH activated CF.•Higher air flow rate yielded higher DO and more reactive oxygen species were formed. Photo-electro-Fenton (PEF) process was integrated with photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) through the connection of electrodes and the cathodes were responsible for the acceptance of electrons. In this study, potassium hydroxide (KOH) was used to activate the carbon felt (CF) to improve the oxygen reduction reaction reactivity on cathodes for effective PFC integrated PEF hybrid system (PFC-PEF system) in Amaranth removal and electricity generation simultaneously. The results revealed that KOH activated CF cathodes had improved the electro-generation of hydrogen peroxide in both PFC and PEF and contributed to decolourisation efficiencies of 99.25% (PFC) and 96.10% (PEF). The maximum power density (4.218 μW cm−2) achieved by KOH activated CF cathode was 22% higher than that of pristine CF. The results revealed that air flow rate of 1000 mL min−1 favoured the generation of more reactive species for effective Amaranth degradation under the dissolved oxygen enrichment condition. The highest decolourisation rates were respectively achieved in PFC (0.5965 h−1) and PEF (0.2919 L mg−1 h−1) at air flow rate of 1000 mL min−1.