Adsorption on Pure Metals

Infrared spectroscopy is frequently applied to investigate CO adsorption on electrodes, because CO is important as an intermediate and surface poison in many electrocatalytic reactions and the C-O stretching vibrational modes of the adlayer are sensitive to the chemical environment at the metal/solution interface. Infrared spectra of CO adsorbed on low-index surface planes of Pt single-crystal electrodes have become a benchmark for use in understanding the behavior of CO on other surfaces. Related approaches have been extended to bulk single-crystal metal electrodes that include Pd [66, 67], Ir [68-71], Rh [13, 70], Ru [72-74], Ni [75, 76] and Au [77]. 

In the study of Pt(lll)/CO, key information that advanced understanding of relationships between infrared spectral features and specific adlayer structures was provided by in-situ scaiming tunneHng microscopy (STM) measurements 

See Chapter 1 in this volume for additional details. Adapted with permission from Ref [77]. 

Anions and neutral organic compounds are among other species whose adsorption on single-crystal electrodes has been probed with sensitivity by infrared spectroscopy. Because of their importance as common electrolytes, there has been long-standing interest in the behavior of simple oxoanions such as perchlorate, sulfates, and phosphates, at the electrode/solution interface (cf. Refs. 

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Hydrogen adsorption on pure metals has been reviewed [5-7], Fundamentals of hydrogen-metal interactions with special reference to the hydrogen degradation of materials in aqueous solution can be found in Ref. 8. 

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