As electrode material, PbO<inf>2</inf> coatings are inexpensive and easy to manufacture by anodic deposition. Moreover, they present low resistivity and, due to their high efficiency in organic oxidation reactions, they continue to attract interest as an object of study and of application in the electrochemical treatment of effluents. During preparation of the electrode, a thin Pt layer is usually deposited on the Ti substrate before receiving the PbO<inf>2</inf> layer in order to prevent the formation of TiO<inf>2</inf> on the substrate surface, thereby ensuring adhesion of the coating. In this study, PbO<inf>2</inf> layers were deposited on a Ti substrate, using Pb as interlayer in place of Pt. Aiming for a cheaper and faster-to-prepare electrode, the Pb interlayer was reduced from a Pb(NO<inf>3</inf>)<inf>2</inf> solution on Ti and then, by reversing the potential in the same electrolyte, PbO<inf>2</inf> was anodically deposited. The Ti/Pt/PbO<inf>2</inf> and Ti/Pb/PbO<inf>2</inf> electrodes were characterized comparatively by cyclic voltammetry in the potential region where the solid state surface redox transitions (SSSRT) take place. Capacitive currents were compared as well as the roughness factor being the Ti/Pb/PbO<inf>2</inf> electrode rougher, with higher surface area. As a consequence, it showed better performance in the color electro-removal of a Remazol Black azo dye solution. © 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg20411671173