Oxidations electrooxidation

The oxidation of the deposited germanium is also a complicated process we found that mainly chemical oxidation by Gel4 takes place, together with some electrooxidation. It is likely that kinetic factors play a dominant role. 

Stereoselective conversion of a thiane 57 to the corresponding tmns-thiane-l-oxide 58 was achieved by bromonium ion mediated electrooxidation while a preferential formation of the cis-sulphoxide 58 was observed under acidic electrolysis123 (equation 38). 

The crucial aspect is thus to determine the fate of the ( CHO), species. Possible mechanisms for its oxidative removal are schematically shown in Fig. 9. From this scheme, it appears that the desorption of the formyl species can follow different pathways through competitive reactions. This schematic illustrates the main problems and challenges in improving the kinetics of the electrooxidation of methanol. On a pure platinum surface, step (21) is spontaneously favored, since the formation of adsorbed CO is a fast process, even at low potentials. Thus, the coverage... 

Platinum is the only acceptable electrocatalyst for most of the primary intermediate steps in the electrooxidation of methanol. It allows the dissociation of the methanol molecule hy breaking the C-H bonds during the adsorption steps. However, as seen earlier, this dissociation leads spontaneously to the formation of CO, which is due to its strong adsorption on Pt this species is a catalyst poison for the subsequent steps in the overall reaction of electrooxidation of CHjOH. The adsorption properties of the platinum surface must be modified to improve the kinetics of the overall reaction and hence to remove the poisoning species. Two different consequences can be envisaged from this modification prevention of the formation of the strongly adsorbed species, or increasing the kinetics of its oxidation. Such a modification will have an effect on the kinetics of steps (23) and (24) instead of step (21) in the first case and of step (26) in the second case. 

The rate-determining step (rds) of the reaction on platinum is the oxidation of adsorbed CO with adsorbed hydroxyl species [step (26)]. The current density of the methanol electrooxidation can be obtained from the following equatiorf ... 

Since oxidation of methanol is an electrocatalytic reaction with different adsorption steps, interactions of the adsorbed species with the metallic surface are important. Using platinum single-crystal electrodes, it has been proven that the electrooxidation of methanol is a surface-sensitive reaction. The initial activity of the Pt(llO) plane is much higher than that of the other low-index planes, but the poisoning phenomenon is so rapid that it causes a fast decrease in the current densities. The... 

The effects of dispersion of the electrocatalyst and of particle size on the kinetics of electrooxidation of methanol have been the subject of numerous studies because of the utilization of carbon support in DMFC anodes. The main objective is to determine the optimum size of the platinum anode particles in order to increase the effectiveness factor of platinum. Such a size effect, which is widely recognized in the case of the reduction of oxygen, is still a subject of discussion for the oxidation of methanol. According to some investigators, an optimum of 2 nm for the platinum particle size exists, but studying particle sizes up to 1.4 nm, other authors observed no size effect. According to a recent study, the rate of oxidation of methanol remains constant for particles greater than 4.5 nm, but decreases with size for smaller particles (up to 2.2 nm). 

The use of adatoms of foreign metals obtained by imderpotential deposition on the platinum surface is another convenient method for investigating the effect of a promoter on the electrocatalytic properties of platinum. However, the effect of adatoms in this case has been shown to be not as effective for electrooxidation of methanol as for the oxidation of other organic molecules such as formic acid adatoms of tin, however, showed a positive effect on the rate of methanol oxidation. ... 

In addition to these different types of alloys, some studies were also devoted to alternatives to platinum as electrocatalysts. Unfortunately, it is clear that even if some catalytic activities were observed, they are far from those obtained with platinum. Nickel tungsten carbides were investigated, but the electrocatalytic activity recorded for methanol oxidation was very low. Tungsten carbide was also considered as a possible alternative owing to its ability to catalyze the electrooxidation of hydrogen. However, it had no activity for the oxidation of methanol and recently some groups showed that a codeposit of Pt and WO3 led to an enhancement of the activity of platinum. ... 

Poisoning of platinum fuel cell catalysts by CO is undoubtedly one of the most severe problems in fuel cell anode catalysis. As shown in Fig. 6.1, CO is a strongly bonded intermediate in methanol (and ethanol) oxidation. It is also a side product in the reformation of hydrocarbons to hydrogen and carbon dioxide, and as such blocks platinum sites for hydrogen oxidation. Not surprisingly, CO electrooxidation is one of the most intensively smdied electrocatalytic reactions, and there is a continued search for CO-tolerant anode materials that are able to either bind CO weakly but still oxidize hydrogen, or that oxidize CO at significantly reduced overpotential. 

Gold is generally considered a poor electro-catalyst for oxidation of small alcohols, particularly in acid media. In alkaline media, however, the reactivity increases, which is related to that fact that no poisoning CO-hke species can be formed or adsorbed on the surface [Nishimura et al., 1989 Tremihosi-Filho et al., 1998]. Similar to Pt electrodes, the oxidation of ethanol starts at potentials corresponding to the onset of surface oxidation, emphasizing the key role of surface oxides and hydroxides in the oxidation process. The only product observed upon the electrooxidation of ethanol on Au in an alkaline electrolyte is acetate, the deprotonated form of acetic acid. The lack of carbon dioxide as a reaction product again suggests that adsorbed CO-like species are an essential intermediate in CO2 formation. 

Figure 13.3 Potentiodynamic electrooxidation of (a) formic acid, (b) formaldehyde, and (c) methanol on a Pt/Vulcan thin-film electrode (7 xgpt cm, geometric area 0.28 cm ) in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution containing 0.1 M HCOOH (a), HCHO (b), or CH3OH (c). The potential scan rate was 10 mV s and the electrolyte flow rate was 5 p-L s at room temperature). The top panels show the faradaic current (solid lines), the partial currents for Ci oxidation to CO2 (dashed lines) and for formic acid formation (dash-dotted line), calculated from the respective ion currents, and the difference between the measured faradaic current and the partial current for CO2 oxidation (formic acid oxidation (a), formaldehyde oxidation (b)), or the difference between faradaic current and the sum of the partial currents for CO2 formation and formic acid oxidation (methanol oxidation, (c)) (dotted line). The solid lines in the lower panels in...

Figure 13.7 Potential-step electrooxidation of methanol on a Pt/Vulcan thin-film electrode (7 ixgptcm , geometric area 0.28 cm ) in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution containing 0.1 M CH3OH upon stepping the potential from 0.16 to 0.6 V (electrol3de flow rate 5 p,L s at room temperature). (a) Solid line, faradaic current transients dashed line, partial current for CH3OH oxidation to CO2 dotted line, difference between the net faradaic current and that for CO2 formation.

There have been even fewer studies of CO electro-oxidation on supported Au particles than on supported Pt. One may expect, however, on the basis of the studies on extended Au surfaces, that there will be a structure sensitivity to the CO electrooxidation reaction on supported Au particles. 

The catalytic properties of a Pt/Sn combination were observed on different kinds of electrode materials alloys [90], electro co-deposits of Pt and Sn [89, 90], underpotential deposited tin [42] or a mixture of tin oxide and platinum deposited on glass [95], All different materials present a marked influence on methanol electrooxidation. 

---