Anomalous voltammetry of Pt

Prior to the publication in 1980 of Clavilier s historic paper (1) reporting anomalous voltammetry of Pt(lll), there had been a number of studies of the voltammetry of single crystal Pt electrodes, with some using modern methods of surface analysis (e.g., LEED or RHEED) for characterization of the structure of the crystal prior to immersion in electrolyte (2-6). and all were in qualitative agreement with the seminal work (in 1965) on Pt single crystals by Will (7.). 

The history of the observation of anomalous voltammetry is reviewed and an experimental consensus on the relation between the anomalous behavior and the conditions of measurement (e.g., surface preparation, electrolyte composition) is presented. The behavior is anomalous in the sense that features appear in the voltammetry of well-ordered Pt(lll) surfaces that had never before been observed on any other type of Ft surface, and these features are not easily understood in terms of current theory of electrode processes. A number of possible interpretations for the anomalous features are discussed. A new model for the processes is presented which is based on the observation of long-period icelike structures in the low temperature states of water on metals, including Pt(lll). It is shown that this model can account for the extreme structure sensitivity of the anomalous behavior, and shows that the most probable explanation of the anomalous behavior is based on capacitive processes involving ordered phases in the double-layer, i.e., no new chemistry is required. 

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