"The proposed project aims at understanding of the electrocatalytic activity and selectivity of the nanoctrystalline oxide electrodes in oxidation processes. Nanocrystalline forms of electrocatalytically active oxides based on pure RuO2 and Co3O4 and on the oxides derived from those by hetero-static substitution will be synthesized by advanced solution based techniques to obtain single phase materials with defined particle size and shape. Prepared materials will be characterized by diffraction techniques, X-ray absorption spectroscopies (EXAFS/XANES) and electron microscopy (SEM/HRTEM) to obtain information about the structure and surface orientation. The electrocatalytic activity of the prepared materials with respect to industrially important electrocatalytic processes – chlorine and oxygen evolution will be characterized using and common electrocatalytic techniques (CV, DEMS, impedance spectroscopy). The active sites (or their model structural elements) for these processes will be identified by combination of ex-situ XPS and in-situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (EXAFS/XANES). The obtained data will be used to formulate general relationships between the oxide surface structure and composition and its electrocatalytic activity and selectivity. These general rules may be in the long run used for rational design of novel electrocatalysts with tailored properties."