Micro-area investigation on electrochemical performance improvement with Co and Mn doping in PbO electrode materials.

PbO-CoO-MnO electrodes, used in the electrowinning industry and in the degradation of organic pollutants, have demonstrated an elevated performance through macroscopic electrochemical measurements. However, few reports have investigated localized electrochemical performance, which plays an indispensable role in determining the essential reasons for the improvement of the modified material. In this study, the causes of the increase in electrochemical reactivity are unveiled from a micro perspective through scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman microscopy (Raman), and X-ray photoelectronic energy spectroscopy (XPS).