Titanium-boron doped diamond composite: A new anode material

It has been known that boron-doped diamond (BDD) is an ideal electrode material since it has the advantages of wide potential window, low background current, good corrosion resistance and strong electrochemical oxidation capability. In this paper, we will show that by preparing BDD as a composite, a new electrode material may be produced. To preparing such a composite, BDD and titanium (Ti) powders have been selected as the electrochemically active material and the matrix, respectively, and spark plasma sintering has been used as the fabrication procedure. Electrochemical tests proved that after an appropriate passivation, surface of the Ti matrix would acquire an insulating property, and the Ti-BDD composite as a whole would possess characteristics of a BDD material, including wide potential window, high oxygen evolution potential and low background current. Degradation tests conducted with glucose solution showed that the composite possessed also good electrochemical oxidation performance and chemical oxygen demand removal capability. Very importantly, accelerated life test proved that the composite as an anode material may have much longer lifetime than that of a BDD coating electrode produced by conventional chemical vapor deposition processes. All these preliminary experimental results suggested that Ti-BDD composite as a new anode material may have bright prospect in electrochemical applications.