Abstract: A novel method of microwave irradiation assisted thermal decomposition to prepare metal oxide electrodes was proposed in this paper. The electrodes were prepared by the microwave irradiation and the dip-coating method, respectively. The as-prepared electrodes were characterized with scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), linear sweep voltammetry and accelerated life test to find out the difference between the novel method and the traditional one. Wastewater degradation experiment was also carried out using the electrodes prepared with the above mentioned approaches, with Acid Red G as target pollutant. In comparison with the traditional dip-coating thermal decomposition method, the microwave irradiation method takes less time (2 h) and less complicated operation procedure. The results demonstrate that the electrode prepared by the novel microwave method is better in surface morphology, crystalline, stability and electro-catalytic property, comparing with that prepared by traditional method.

Key words: microwave irradiation, dip-coating method, tin dioxide electrode, electrode property