Phase/Size‐Controlled Synthesis of Nanostructured PbO2Microspheres for Efficient Electrochemical Ozone Generation

Abstract

AbstractTraditional electrochemically prepared lead dioxide (e‐PbO2) is one of the most used electrode materials for electrochemical ozone production (EOP), because of its high catalytic activity, excellent electrical conductivity, relative stability and low cost. But the electrochemically prepared conditions are complicated and harsh. Bulk PbO2electrodes have the very limited surface area and are inconvenient to process into the fine film electrodes for a PEM electrolyser. In contrast, chemical synthesis is easy to prepare uniform PbO2catalysts with high surface area and catalytic activity. Here, a facile one‐pot approach to prepare a highly active PbO2microsphere catalyst was established and used for the EOP reaction in a PEM ozone generator. Sodium hydroxide could be used to regulate the relative content of α/β allotropic phase and crystallite size of PbO2microspheres. Experiment results revealed that high β phase content and large β‐PbO2crystallite size were beneficial to the high EOP activity. By optimizing the composition and crystal structure, chemically prepared PbO2could have much better EOP performance than e‐PbO2.