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e-Article

Ethanol electrooxidation on Pt-Sn and Pt-Sn-W bulk alloys
Document Type
article
Source
Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society. January 2008 19(4)
Subject
ethanol oxidation
direct ethanol fuel cell
platinum-tin
platinum-tin-tungsten
in situ Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy
Language
English
ISSN
0103-5053
Abstract
Ethanol oxidation has been studied on Pt-Sn and Pt-Sn-W electrodes prepared in an arc-melting furnace. Different electrochemical techniques like cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry were used to evaluate the catalytic activity of these materials. The electro-oxidation process was also investigated by in situ infrared reflectance spectroscopy in order to determine adsorbed intermediates and reaction products. Experimental results indicated that Pt-Sn and Pt-Sn-W alloys are able to oxidize ethanol mainly to acetaldehyde and acetic acid. Adsorbed CO was also detected, demonstrating the viability of splitting the C-C bond in the ethanol molecule during the oxidation process. The adsorbed CO was further oxidized to CO2.This reaction product was clearly detected by SNIFTIRS. Pt-Sn-W catalyst showed a better electrochemical performance than Pt-Sn that, in it turn, is better than Pt-alone.