Electro-oxidation kinetics of adsorbed CO on platinum electrocatalysts

We describe the voltammetric measurement of the full oxidation of adsorbed CO on unsupported platinum electrocatalysts, with concomitant cyclic voltammetry of the hydrogen adsorption and desorption. The hydrogen region of platinum is used to parse the platinum surface into sites associated with weakly bound (WB) hydrogen and strongly bound (SB) hydrogen. By monitoring changes in the hydrogen region while following the two observed CO oxidation peaks, we are able to identify the WB sites as being the most active sites for CO ads electro-oxidation. The full oxidation peak is fitted to a model based on a modified Butler–Volmer equation that includes the two families of sites. Excellent agreement with experimental results is obtained, and the resulting fits yield the kinetic parameters for the two families of sites. When combined with coulometry, these kinetic analyses also show the importance of linear- and bridged-CO ads species in the electro-oxidation process. Limitations of the model and the role of CO ads dynamics amongst the various surface sites are discussed.