Evaluation of the electrochemical activity of a Ti–RuO2–TiO2 permanent anode

Most of the hydrometallurgical processes use sulphuric acid solutions. The main anodic reaction is oxygen evolution by decomposition of water. Traditional anode materials have been lead alloys that have high overpotential towards oxygen evolution. Oxide type anodes are more active but they are also more expensive. In this work, the activities of binary RuO2–TiO2 anodes were measured using different electrochemical techniques. The activity measurements were based on the measurement of the redox reaction between Ru(III) and Ru(IV) in cyclic voltammetry and on the oxygen evolution reaction in potentiostatic tests and galvanostatic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Factors related to intrinsic electrocatalytic properties and electrochemically active surface area could be separated. Above 30 mol% no significant increase in activity towards oxygen evolution is gained by increasing the concentration of active oxide. With low amount of active oxide most of the active sites are inside the pores and cracks. This will cause anode failure by bubble formation inside the anode.