Comparison of Ti/PbO2 electrode and Ti/RuO2-IrO2 electrode on their electrochemical performance.

Electrochemical oxidation is an efficient and pollution-free technology that belongs to the advanced oxidation process. The anode with excellent characteristics is a key factor that affects the electrocatalytic oxidation system. To explore the difference of performance between the PbO2 electrode and RuO2-IrO2 electrode, the morphology, microstructure, and other electrochemical properties were tested respectively. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows that the PbO2 film is a typical pyramid shape with a compact structure while many cracks appear on RuO2-IrO2 film. The PbO2 and RuO2-IrO2 crystallize sizes are 22.7 nm and 31.3 nm, respectively. The oxygen evolution overpotential of the PbO2 electrode is 1.33 V (vs. SCE) a little lower than the RuO2-IrO2 electrode of 1.41 V (vs. SCE). The phenol and crystal violet (CV) are applied as the target contaminants to check the electrocatalytic performance of the two electrodes. The experiment results show that the RuO2-IrO2 electrode is fit for the degradation of crystal violet and the PbO2 electrode is fit for the degradation of phenol. The better electrocatalytic performance on the degradation of crystal violet by RuO2-IrO2 electrode can be attributed to the higher oxygen evolution overpotential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]