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Electrochemical water splitting into H 2 and O 2 presents a significant and challenging energy loss due to the high overpotential required at the anode. Today, in industrially relevant applications, dimensionally stable anodes (DSA ® ) based on the electrocatalytic active RuO 2 are conventionally utilized. To enhance the resistance against corrosion, incorporation of TiO 2 in the RuO 2 coated electrodes is widely employed. In the present work we have used scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) to demonstrate that TiO 2 -doped RuO 2 coated

The catalytic and durable electrode coating of ruthenium dioxide (RuO2), applied on nickel (Ni) substrates, is today utilized as electrocatalytic cathodes for hydrogen production, e.g., in the chlor-alkali process and alkaline water electrolysis. The drawback is, however, the sensitivity to reverse currents obtained during power shutdowns, e.g. at maintenance, where the RuO2-based electrodes can be severely damaged unless polarization rectifiers are employed.Through the material characterization techniques X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron 2 spectroscopy we can now reveal that RuO2 coatings, when exposed to hydrogen evolution at industrially relevant conditions, transforms into ruthenium oxyhydroxide (RuO(OH)2). The study further shows that as the hydrogen evolution proceeds the formed RuO(OH)2 reduces to metallic ruthenium (Ru).

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