Development of Noble Metal/Oxide Coated Titanium Anode

The noble metal/oxide coated anodes use conductive precious metal oxides (RuO2, IrO2, etc.) as electrocatalysts and non-conductive metal oxides (TiO2, Ta2O5, SnO2, ZrO2, CoOx, etc.) as dispersing or stabilizing agents, which are coated on valve metal substrates (Ti, Ta, Zr, Nb, etc.) with a thermal decomposition method. RuO2-TiO2/Ti anode has successfuly used in industrial chlor-alkali electrolysis in 1968. In the last two decades, IrO2-Ta2O5/Ti anode as electrode for O2 evolution has received much attention and applied to many electrochimical processes, including electroplating, cathodic protection and so on. In this paper the composition, structure and electrochemical performance of IrO2 coated titanium anodes and existent problems are discussed.