Leachate xenobiotics electrocatalytic degradation and simultaneous carbon quantum dots synthesis for anti-counterfeiting applications

The leachate treatment and the management of sludge after its treatment is a big challenge due to its many toxins and pollutants. The novelty of the current work resides in our attempt to address both difficulties by treating the leachate with electrofenton using low-cost stainless steel electrodes, followed by converting the sludge generated into quantum dots suited for anti-counterfeiting applications. On the electrofenton treatment of leachate, at the optimized conditions, the percentage removal of total organic carbon (TOC), UV254, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and NH3-N was found to be 79 %, 93 %, 90 %, and 90 % respectively with less energy consumption of 0.26 KWh/KgCOD. The gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), 3D fluorescence spectroscopy matrix, and UV-Vis analysis confirmed the removal of xenobiotics and dissolved organic matter (DOM). The carbon quantum dots (S-CQDs) synthesized from sludge were characterized for X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), PL intensity (Photoluminescence), and UV-Vis. The S-CQDs are very promising in qualitative fingerprint image enhancement in terms of overall pattern, dots, and ridges and are well suited as an alternate, efficient, green anticounterfeiting material. Thus, highly polluted leachate was efficiently treated and sludge was converted into useful carbon dots with the anti-counterfeiting application.