Platinum sticking coefficient

Selectivity control by competitive adsorption also explains how the platinum catalyst works in the Ostwald process, the oxidation of ammonia to nitrogen oxide, used to produce nitrates from ammonia. The low reactivity of platinum causes the rate of ammonia dissociation on platinum to be low. The dissociation of N-H bonds of ammonia is the reverse of the ammonia synthesis discussed in the previous section. Whereas the rate of dissociative NH3 adsorption is relatively small, the initial sticking coefficient for dissociative oxygen adsorption is higher, about 0.01. 

Ability to Operate on 1-2% CO in Feed Stream The CO sticking coefficient on platinum is greatly reduced at200°C, so that the PAFC can operate on a wide variety of fuel feeds with a simple steam reformer subsystem and minimal CO cleanup. 

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