This study interrogated multi-layer heterojunction anodes were interrogated for potential applications to water treatment. The multi-layer anodes with outer layers of SnO2/Bi2O3 and/or TiO2/Bi2O3 onto IrO2/Ta2O5 electrodes were prepared by thermal decomposition and characterized in terms of reactive chlorine species (RCS) generation in 50 mM NaCl solutions. The IrO2/Ta2O5 layer on Ti substrate (Anode 1) primarily served as an electron shuttle. The current efficiency (CE) and energy efficiency (EE) for RCS generation were significantly enhanced by the further coating of SnO2/Bi2O3 (Anode 2) and TiO2/Bi2O3 (Anode 3) layers onto the Anode 1, despite moderate losses in electrical conductivity and active surface area. The CE of the Anode 3 was found to show the highest RCS generation rate, whereas the multi-junction architecture (Anode 4, sequential coating of IrO2/Ta2O5, SnO2/Bi2O3, and TiO2/Bi2O3) showed marginal improvement. The microscopic observations indicated that the outer TiO2/Bi2O3 could form a crack-free layer by an incorporation of anatase TiO2 particles, potentially increasing the service life of the anode. The results of this study are expected to broaden the usage of dimensionally stable anodes in water treatment with an enhanced RCS generation and lifetime.

A dimensionally stable anode based on the RuO2 electrocatalyst is an important electrode for generating chlorine. The RuO2 is well-known as an electrode material with high electrocatalytic performance and stability. In this study, sonoelectrodeposition is proposed to synthesize the RuO2 electrodes. The electrode obtained by this novel process shows better electrocatalytic properties and stability for generating chlorine compared to the conventional one. The high roughness and outer surface area of the RuO2 electrode from a new fabrication process leads to increase in the chlorine generation rate. This enhanced performance is attributed to the accelerated mass transport rate of the chloride ions from electrolyte to electrode surface. In addition, the electrode with sonodeposition method showed higher stability than the conventional one, which might be explained by the mass coverage enhancement. The effect of sonodeposition time was also investigated, and the electrode with longer deposition time showed higher electrocatalytic performance and stability.

RuO2 is a common active component of Dimensionally Stable Anodes (DSAs) for chlorine evolution that can be used in wastewater treatment systems. The recent improvement of chlorine evolution using nanostructures of RuO2 electrodes to increase the treatment efficiency and reduce the energy consumption of this process has received much attention. In this study, RuO2 nanorod and nanosheet electrodes were simply fabricated using the sol-gel method with organic surfactants as the templates. The obtained RuO2 nanorod and nanosheet electrodes exhibit enhanced electrocatalytic activities for chlorine evolution possibly due to the active surface areas, especially the outer active surface areas, which are attributed to the increase in mass transfers compared with a conventional nanograin electrode. The electrocatalytic activities for chlorine evolution were increased up to 20 % in the case of the nanorod electrode and 35% in the case of the nanosheet electrode compared with the nanograin electrode. The RuO2 nanorod 80 nm in length and 20-30 nm in width and the RuO2 nanosheet 40-60 nm in length and 40 nm in width are formed on the surface of Ti substrates. These results support that the templated RuO2 nanorod and nanosheet electrodes are promising anode materials for chlorine evolution in future applications.