Platinum water adsorption

This rather simple experiment demonstrates quite clearly the poisoning of the oxygen reduction process by copper. Incidentally, Cu(II) is a rather common impurity in distilled water and mineral acids, and this experiment demonstrates that underpotential deposition of a monolayer of copper from solutions containing as little as 1 ppm Cu can drastically affect the behavior of a platinum electrode. Adsorption of small amounts of other impurities (i.e., organic molecules) can also have an effect on solid-electrode behavior. Thus, electrochemical experiments often require making great efforts to establish and maintain solution purity. 

In the case of the Pt(lOO) surface the interaction potential is derived from semiempirical quantum chemical calculations of the interactions of a water molecule with a 5-atom platinum cluster [35]. The lattice of metal atoms is flexible and the atoms can perform oscillatory motions described by a single force constant taken from lattice dynamics studies of the pure platinum metal. The water-platinum interaction potential does not only depend on the distance between two particles but also on the projection of this distance onto the surface plane, thus leading to the desired property of water adsorption with the oxygen atoms on top of a surface atom. For more details see the original references [1,2]. This model has later been simplifled and adapted to the Pt(lll) surface by Berkowitz and coworkers [3,4] who used a simple corrugation function instead of atom-atom pair potentials. 

A platinum-iron on silica gel catalyst was prepared by impregnating silica gel (BDH, for chromatographic adsorption) with an aqueous solution of chloroplatinic acid (analytical grade) and sodium hydroxide (analytical grade). The dry product was then impregnated by a ferrous sulfate solution (C.P. grade) and the water was removed in a rotating evaporator. The prepared catalyst contained 1% Pt, 0.7% Fe, and 2% NaOH (by... 

Many organic electrode processes require the adsorption of the electroactive species at the electrode surface before the electron transfer can occur. This adsorption may take the form of physical or reversible chemical adsorption, as has been commonly observed at a mercury/water interface, or it may take the form of irreversible, dissociative chemical adsorption where bond fracture occurs during the adsorption process and often leads to the complete destruction of the molecule. This latter t q)e of adsorption is particularly prevalent at metals in the platinum group and accounts for their activity as heterogeneous catalysts and as... 

Karlberg GS. 2006. Adsorption trends for water, hydroxyl, oxygen, and hydrogen on transition-metal and platinum-skin surfaces. Phys Rev B 74 153414. 

We used polycrystalline films of ZnO and Sn02 as adsorbents. The films were deposited from the water suspension of respective oxides on quartz substrates. These substrates contained initially sintered contacts made of platinum paste. The gap between contacts was of about lO" cm. All samples were initially heated in air during one hour at T 500 C. We used purified molecular oxygen an acceptor particle gas. H and Zn atoms as well as molecules of CO were used as donor particles. We monitored both the kinetics of the change of ohmic electric conductivity and the tangent of inclination angle of pre-relaxation VAC caused by adsorption of above gases and the dependence of stationary values of characteristics in question as functions of concentrations of active particles. 

The cyclic voitammogram for Pt (111) in 5 M sulfuric acid is shown in Fig. 2-21. Compared with that in 0.5 M sulfuric acid (Fig. 2-15), the anodic part of the two split hydrogen adsorption-desorption areas was compressed in the cathodic direction and became two sharp peaks while the cathodic part did not change its shape very much. The asymmetric peak at 700 mV shifted cathodicly and became more symmetric and sharp. The oxidation of platinum shifted about 100 mV in the anodic direction. All these changes could be attributed to the increase in specific adsorption of anions or the decrease of the activity of water as well as the pH change. 

The situation is quite different in the case of an acetic acid-water system. The energy of acetic acid adsorption on platinum is low and therefore the voltammetric curves taken in the absence and in the presence of acetic acid in the supporting electrolyte are nearly the same. However, radiometric data show that C-labeled acetic acid is adsorbed on the electrode surface. Most likely the acetic acid molecules are adsorbed on the top of the water molecules populating the electrode surface. Simultaneously recorded voltammetric and counting rate data are shown in Fig. 8. 

These examples show that adsorption of water molecules on platinum electrodes depends on the solution components. If the energy of the solute adsorption is higher than that of water molecules, water tends to adsorb on the top of the primary solute layer, which is directly bound to the platinum adsorption sites. If the interaction of organic molecules with platinum is weak, water adsorbs directly onto the electrode surface. In the... 

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