Bismuth Doped PbO₂ Coatings: Morphology and Electrocatalytic Properties

Abstract

Modified PbO 2 anodes doped with bismuth were prepared by means of electrodeposition in methanesulfonate solutions. The influence of bismuth ions on morphological and electrocatalytic properties of obtained coatings was studied. Both XRD patterns and SEM micrographs demonstrated that incorporation of bismuth diminishes the size of crystal particles. It is shown, that oxygen overpotential on micromodified electrodes is sensibly higher than on non-modified PbO 2 -electrode. According to obtained results a hypothesis of a mechanism which include transfer of an increased number oxygen radical intermediates to Bi(III) to produce a sensible amount of Bi(IV) and Bi(V) that can participate in the O 2 evolution process was proposed.