Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance analysis of the CO oxidation reaction at Pt alloy electrodes

Abstract

The oxidation reactions of pre-adsorbed CO (CO ad) at pure Pt, Ru, and Pt alloy (Pt–Co, Pt–Fe and Pt–Ru) electrodes were analyzed by double-potential-step chronoamperometry (DPS-CA) with an electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM). In a positive-going potential scan at pure Pt, Pt–Co, and Pt–Fe electrodes with CO ad ( θ CO = 1), a pre-oxidation peak was observed at 0.4–0.6 V vs. RHE before a main oxidation peak around 0.7 V. The DPS-CA at the pre-oxidation peak indicated that the elementary reactions at these three electrodes were almost the same, i.e., oxidation of weakly adsorbed CO mainly occurred after initial oxidation of a small amount of adsorbed COOH. At the main oxidation peak, CO ad was oxidized and vacant sites formed were partly occupied by water molecules and/or hydrated ClO 4 - anions. At pure Ru and the Pt–Ru alloy, one major oxidation peak was observed, where CO ad was first oxidized by Ru–OH formed by discharge of H 2O adsorbed on Ru sites (so-called bifunctional mechanism for Pt–Ru). It was found that only a small fraction of CO ad was oxidized in the first step, and subsequent oxidation of CO ad proceeded, enabled by a supply of H 2O molecules to such vacant sites.