Wet film application techniques and their effects on the stability of RuO2-TiO2 coated titanium anodes

The effect of wet film application techniques on the physical and electrochemical properties and operational stability of RuO2-TiO2 coated titanium anodes was evaluated. Four compositions of RuO2-TiO2 coatings were applied to Ti substrates by three different wet coating methods-brush, dip and spin. Changing the coating technique resulted in different morphologies. Electrochemically active surface area of the coatings was related to the morphology. A shift in Ru(III)/Ru(IV) oxidation potential occurred upon changing the application technique. For lower ruthenium content coatings, this shift was related to coating lifetime. Anode stability in accelerated lifetesting showed that dip coated samples lasted up to three times longer than brush coated samples for lower ruthenium content.