Anodic oxidation was carried out using 304 stainless steel anodes in neutral 0.1 mol/L phenol solution with an electrolyte composed of 0.1 mol/L sodium sulfate. This oxidation generated a yellow brown polyphenol coating on the steel anode surface. The reaction conditions discussed in this report relate to the methods of linear scanning, cyclic voltammetry and constant current oxidation. The proper anodic electrode potential for polyphenol deposition was observed to be 1.45 V. with a bath voltage of 2.5 V. The chemical structure of the polyphenol coating was analyzed by infrared spectroscopy and the molecular weight of the soluble part of the coating was detected by gel permeation chromatography. A scanning electron microscope was used to analyze the microstructure of the polyphenol coating, taking advantage of the partial solubility of the polyphenol in tetrahydrofuran. The observed linear and flake-layer modes of the polyphenol coating growth are summarized herein. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.