Manganese dioxide electrodes

Abstract

Novel electrodes consisting essentially of a valve metal base or other electrically conductive material which is corrosion-resistant to the anodic conditions having on at least a portion of its outer surface an electrocatalytic coating of .beta.-manganese dioxide chemi-deposited by thermal decomposition of an alcoholic solution of manganese nitrate which are useful in electrolysis processes in which oxygen is formed at the anode such as electrowinning of metals from sulfuric acid solution or in the electrolytic production of perchlorates. Also included are electrodes where the .beta.-manganese dioxide coating is activated by doping with up to 5% by weight of at least one metal of the groups IB, IIB, IVA, VA, VB, VIB, VIIB, and VIII of the Periodic Table excluding the platinum group metals, gold and silver or activated by irradiation of the .beta.-manganese dioxide coating and/or stabilized by the addition of up to 20% by weight of silicon dioxide, tin dioxide or .beta.-lead dioxide as a mechanical stabilizer for the coating.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.