The electrocatalysis of Mn-Co3O4/CeO2@C particles with different Ce content modified Ti/PbO2 anode and its application for copper electrodeposition

The oxygen evolution kinetics of industrial copper electrodeposition is slow, resulting in low electrocatalytic activity and high energy consumption. In this work, a quaternary composite of carbon coated active particles containing Mn, Co and Ce were prepared (Mn-Co 3 O 4 /CeO 2 @C), and Ti/Sb-SnO 2 /PbO 2 electrode doped with these active particles was prepared by co-electrodeposition. The microstructure and chemical composition of the electrode was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and Tafel polarization curve (Tafel) were used to study the electrochemical properties of anode materials. The results showed that the doping of Mn-Co 3 O 4 /CeO 2 @C active particles promoted the crystal transition of PbO 2 , decreased the average grain size, and the doping of Ce increases the average valence state of Co. The modified titanium electrode showed excellent catalytic activity of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) characteristics. The overpotential of the doped Ti/Sb-SnO 2 /PbO 2 anode was only 453 mV when the current density was 20 mA cm −2 in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 solution, which is 508 mV lower than that of the undoped Ti/Sb-SnO 2 /PbO 2 anode. In simulated copper electro-deposition experiments, the cell voltage was reduced by about 400 mV, compared to the undoped Ti/Sb-SnO 2 /PbO 2 electrode.