Adsorbed intermediates of formaldehyde oxidation and their role in the reaction mechanism

Formaldehyde oxidation was studied on the basal planes of platinum single crystals. Electrochemical and IR spectroscopy data give new information on the mechanism of oxidation. Formaldehyde oxidation at platinum electrodes is a surface-sensitive reaction. From the three basal planes of Pt(hkl), Pt(111) is the most active one. The less active surfaces Pt(100) and Pt(110) are blocked by adsorbed carbon monoxide at the initial stages of the reaction as the formaldehyde is admitted in the solution with the electrode polarized at 0.05 V. Besides CO(ad), other adsorbed species are formed. From these, methylene glycolate, H2COO(ad), is the intermediate of the fast oxidation pathways forming CO2 and HCOOH as soluble products. According to IR data the yields of soluble products at Pt(111) were calculated at 0.6 V, giving 63% for HCOOH and 37% for CO2. At 0.05 V the Pt(111) surface becomes slowly blocked by CO(ad), as observed when the electrode was left in contact with the formaldehyde solution over a period of several minutes. The same blockage occurs during a cyclic voltammogram, which causes a lowering of activity during the second potential scan. A general scheme of the reaction is proposed.     

Photolysis studies on HCOOH and HCOO− in presence of TiO2 photocatalyst as suspension in aqueous medium

Photolysis studies on formic acid (HCOOH) and formate ion (HCOO−) in presence of TiO2, a photocatalyst, as suspension in water were carried out separately using 350 nm ultraviolet light. The products, such as H2, CO, CO2 and CH4, generated during the experiments were monitored with varying the ambient, light exposure time, and the concentration of HCOOH/HCOO−. The yields of CO in all these systems increased with light exposure time. In aerated systems, CO yields were higher in contrast to the deoxygenated (Ar-purged) systems under identical conditions. It is proposed apparently that the formation of CO is taking place during the chemical reduction of in-situ generated CO2, a photo-mineralized product of HCOOH/HCOO−, but not through the direct photodecomposition or photodehydration (CO+H2O) of solute molecules. The rates of CO formation during 1.3 M HCOOH photolysis in presence of TiO2 photocatalyst were evaluated to be 0.21 and 0.13 μl/min in aerated and Ar-purged systems, respectively. As compared with HCOOH systems, the CO yields are lower when 0.2 M HCOONa was exposed to light under identical conditions. The CO growth rates were evaluated to be 0.07 and 0.046 μl·min−1 for aerated and deoxygenated HCOONa systems, respectively; moreover, the trend is quite similar to that of the HCOOH system. Under these conditions, the emission of H2 was also observed, and its yield was significantly higher in Ar-purged system as compared with the CO yields. However, in aerated system, the yields of these products were just opposite. The formation of low yield of methane was observed during photolysis of HCOOH/HCOO− ions. In CO2 ambient, the yields of CO and H2 varied drastically with time.     

甲酸在Au（997）台阶表面的氧化反应

金催化是纳米催化的代表性体系之一,但对金催化作用的理解还存在争议,特别是金颗粒尺寸对其催化作用的影响.金颗粒尺寸减小导致的表面结构主要变化之一是表面配位不饱和金原子密度的增加,因此研究金原子配位结构对其催化作用的影响对于理解金催化作用尺寸依赖性具有重要意义.具有不同配位结构的金颗粒表面可以利用金台阶单晶表面来模拟.我们研究组以同时具有Au(111)平台和Au(111)台阶的Au(997)台阶表面为模型表面,发现Au(111)台阶原子在CO氧化、NO氧化和NO分解反应中表现出与Au(111)平台原子不同的催化性能.负载型Au颗粒催化甲酸氧化反应是重要的Au催化反应之一.本文利用程序升温脱附/反应谱(TDS/TPRS)和X射线光电子能谱(XPS)研究了甲酸在清洁的和原子氧覆盖的Au(997)表面的吸附和氧化反应,观察到Au(111)台阶原子和Au(111)平台原子不同的催化甲酸根氧化反应行为.与甲酸根强相互作用的Au(111)台阶原子表现出比与甲酸根弱相互作用的Au(111)平台原子更高的催化甲酸根与原子氧发生氧化反应的反应活化能.在清洁Au(997)表面,甲酸分子发生可逆的分子吸附和脱附.甲酸分子在Au(111)台阶原子的吸附强于在Au(111)平台原子的吸附. TDS结果表明,吸附在Au(111)台阶原子的甲酸分子的脱附温度在190 K,吸附在Au(111)平台原子的甲酸分子的
　　脱附温度在170 K. XPS结果表明,分子吸附甲酸的C 1s和O 1s结合能分别位于289.1和532.8 eV.利用多层NO2的分解反应在Au(997)表面控制制备具有不同原子氧吸附位和覆盖度的原子氧覆盖Au(997)表面,包括氧原子吸附在(111)台阶位的0.02 ML-O(a)/Au(997)、氧原子同时吸附在(111)台阶位和(111)平台位的0.12 ML-O(a)/Au(997)、氧原子和氧岛吸附在(111)平台位和氧原子吸附在(111)台阶位的0.26 ML-O(a)/Au(997). TPRS和XPS结果表明,甲酸分子在105 K与Au(997)表面原子氧物种反应生成甲酸根和羟基物种,但甲酸根物种的进一步氧化反应依赖于Au原子配位结构和各种表面物种的相对覆盖度.在0.02 ML-O(a)/Au(997)表面暴露0.5 L甲酸时, Au(111)台阶位氧原子完全反应,甲酸过量.表面物种是Au(111)台阶位吸附的甲酸根、羟基和甲酸分子.在加热过程中,甲酸分子与羟基在181 K反应生成甲酸根和气相水分子(HCOOH(a)+ OH(a)= H2O + HCOO(a)),甲酸根在340 K发生歧化反应生成气相HCOOH和CO2分子(2HCOO(a)= CO2+ HCOOH).在0.12 ML-O(a)/Au(997)和0.26 ML-O(a)/Au(997)表面暴露0.5 L甲酸时,甲酸分子完全反应,原子氧过量.表面物种是Au(111)平台位和Au(111)台阶位吸附的甲酸根、羟基和原子氧.在加热过程中, Au(111)平台位和Au(111)台阶位的甲酸根分别在309和340 K同时发生氧化反应(HCOO(a)+ O(a)= H2O + CO2)和歧化反应(2HCOO(a)= CO2+ HCOOH)生成气相CO2, H2O和HCOOH分子.在0.26 ML-O(a)/Au(997)表面暴露10 L甲酸时,甲酸分子和原子氧均未完全消耗.表面物种是Au(111)平台位和Au(111)台阶位吸附的甲酸根、羟基、甲酸分子和原子氧.在加热过程中,除了上述甲酸根的氧化反应和歧化反应,还发生171 K的甲酸分子与羟基的反应(HCOOH(a)+ OH(a)= H2O + HCOO(a))和216 K的羟基并和反应(OH(a)+ OH(a)= H2O + O(a)).     

DFT法研究HCOOH在Pd/WC(0001)上的分解机理（英文）

作为便携式电子设备的动力源,直接甲酸燃料电池(DFAFC)具有燃料跨界范围小、电动势大、甲酸无毒、低温下功率密度大等优点,因而引起了人们的极大兴趣.DFAFC商业化的主要挑战之一是阳极电催化剂材料的高成本和低CO耐受性.阳极通常需要高负载的贵金属电催化剂(Pt或Pd)氧化甲酸(HCOOH)以获得所需的电能.完全电氧化甲酸在Pt和Pd表面上会产生强吸附的CO,从而降低了Pt或Pd催化剂的活性.Pt和Pd储量少且价格昂贵,减少Pt和Pd含量且保持催化性能的燃料电池催化剂一直是研究者的奋斗目标.本文用周期性密度泛函理论(DFT)系统地研究了WC负载的单分子层Pd(Pd/WC(0001))催化剂对甲酸的分解机理,这可为所需的反应路径设计、筛选催化剂提供指导.Trans-HCOOH通过C-H,O-H,C-O键的活化发生分解.关于吸附,确定了可能反应中间体的最稳定吸附构型.trans-HCOOH,HCOO,mHCOO,cis-COOH,trans-COOH,CO,H2O,OH和H的吸附过程是化学吸附,而cis-HCOOH和CO2与Pd/WC(0001)表面的相互作用较弱,是物理吸附.此外,提出了trans-HCOOH分解的不同途径来探索分解机理.trans-HCOOH中O-H,C-H和C-O键的活化能垒分别为0.61,0.77和1.05 eV,O-H键断裂的能垒最小,则trans-HCOOH优先通过O-H键断裂生成HCOO.双齿HCOO是HCOOH分解的主要中间体,它可以转变为单齿HCOO,这条路线生成CO2的能垒比双齿HCOO的低0.04 eV.CO2是HCOO主要解离产物,这一步是总反应的决速步骤.对于cis-COOH和trans-COOH,CO是其主要解离产物.此外,trans-HCOOH也能直接生成CO,但克服的能垒较大.在Pd/WC(0001)表面上分解trans-HCOOH的最有利途径是HCOOH→HCOO→CO2,其中HCOO脱氢形成CO2的步骤是速率决定步骤.本文提供了HCOOH在Pd/WC(0001)表面上分解的活性中间体、能垒和机理的推测,CO形成主要是通过cis-COOH、trans-COOH及HCO的分解,CO2的形成主要是通过HCOO的分解,CO2占主导.该结论与Pd(111)面上甲酸分解结果一致,说明WC作为Pd载体没有改变Pd对甲酸的催化性能,但降低了Pd的使用量.综上,本文阐明了WC负载单分子层Pd催化剂上甲酸催化分解机理,得出甲酸分解的最佳反应路径,为直接甲酸燃料电池设计低贵金属含量、高活性的负载型Pd催化剂提供了理论指导;可用于预测不同载体负载Pd催化剂的性能,大大减少实验成本,以验证提出的实验假设.     

粗糙铂电极上甲酸吸附氧化的电化学原位表面增强拉曼光谱研究

采用循环伏安法和电化学原位表面增强拉曼光谱（SERS）技术研究甲酸的解离 及附与氧化行为。首次报道了甲酸吸附、解离和氧化的电化学原位SERS谱，发现甲 酸在粗糙铂电极上能自发解离吸附；首欠成功地获得了粗糙铂电极上甲酸吸附解离 的强吸附中间体CO和活性中间体COOH的表面增强拉曼光谱，同时首次检测到甲酸氧 化最终产物CO_2的拉曼光谱信号，从分子水平证实甲酸解离吸附反应的双途径机理 。     

甲酸在Pt(100)单晶电极表面解离吸附过程的动力学

有机小分子在电催化剂表面的解离吸附,是燃料电池阳极氧化过程中发生自毒化现象的主要原因.事实上这类解离吸附是一种表面分子过程,包括有机分子在电极表面吸附,分子内断键,生成新的吸附分子或基因等步骤.Sun等研究了甲醇等在一系列铂单晶电极上的解离吸附,发现这类过程极强地依赖于电极表面原子排列结构.虽然已有大量文献报导了运用原位红外光谱检测各类有机小分子解离吸附物种,但迄今仍未见到动力学方面的研究结果.显然,对这种在电化学条件下表面分子反应过程的动力学研究,必将进一步揭     

Radiation Chemistry of Polysaccharides: 1. Mechanisms of Carbon Monoxide and Formic Acid Formation

Based on an analysis of author's experimental results and published data on the buildup of HCOOH and CO in starches and other high polymers of glucose irradiated in the presence of O₂, it was concluded that both of these products result from multistage transformations of a primary radical of H abstraction from C1. Peroxide radicals are the source of HCOOH, whereas acyl radicals, which are produced in radical reactions with aldehyde groups, are the precursor of CO. Based on the values of G(HCOOH), G(CO), and G(cleavage) and the mass balance on these products, a conclusion was drawn that the formation of these products requires the degradation of three neighboring monomer units. A reaction mechanism for the formation of HCOOH and CO was proposed.     

Electro-oxidation of formic acid catalyzed by FePt nanoparticles

The electrocatalytic oxidation of formic acid at a gold electrode functionalized with FePt nanoparticles was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in a mixed solution of 0.1 M HCOOH and 0.1 M HClO4. The FePt bimetallic nanoparticles, with a mean diameter of 3 nm, were prepared by a chemical reduction method. The Au/FePt nanostructured electrode was prepared firstly by the deposition of FePt nanoparticles onto a clean Au electrode surface, followed by ultraviolet ozone treatment to remove the organic coating. In CV measurements, two well-defined anodic peaks were observed at +0.20 and +0.51 V (vs. a Ag/AgCl quasi-reference). The anodic peak at +0.20 V was attributed to the oxidation of HCOOH to CO2 on surface unblocked by CO, whereas the peak at +0.51 V was ascribed to the oxidation of surface-adsorbed CO (an intermediate product of HCOOH oxidation) and further oxidation of bulk HCOOH. From the onset potential and current density of the electro-oxidation of HCOOH, FePt nanoparticles exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activities as compared to Pt and other metal alloys. EIS measurements were carried out to further examine the reaction kinetics involved in the HCOOH electro-oxidation. The EIS responses were found to be strongly dependent on electrode potentials. At potentials more positive than -0.25 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), pseudo-inductive behavior was typically observed. At potentials between +0.3 and +0.5 V, the impedance response was found to reverse from the first quadrant to the second quadrant; such negative Faradaic impedance was indicative of the presence of an inductive component due to the oxidation of surface-adsorbed CO. The impedance responses returned to normal behavior at more positive potentials (+0.6 to +0.9 V). The mechanistic variation was attributed to the formation of different intermediates (CO or oxygen containing species) on the electrode surface in different potential regions. Two equivalent circuits were proposed to model these impedance behaviors.     

甲酸在Pt-Sn(111)/C合金表面吸附的量子化学研究

采用周期平板模型, 结合密度泛函理论对HCOOH和CO在Pt-Sn(111)/C表面的top、brigde、hcp和fcc共计8个位点的吸附模型进行构型优化和能量计算, 并对吸附前后的频率、电荷、能带和态密度进行了研究. 计算结果表明fcc-Pt₃是较为有利的吸附位点, Sn掺杂之后费米能级右移, 导带增宽, 价带和导带的位置略微降低, 合金表面电子结构变化利于甲酸的吸附解离催化, 可使甲酸燃料电池阳极催化性能显著提高. 通过催化剂表面的抗中毒分析, 发现CO在Pt-Sn(111)/C表面的吸附能以两种趋势下降, 阳极催化剂掺杂改性后抗CO中毒能力增强.     

Carbon dioxide hydrogenation to formic acid by using a heterogeneous gold catalyst

AUROlite, consisting of gold supported on titania (picture shows extrudates in a steel net cage), is a robust catalyst for the production of catalyst-free HCOOH/NEt(3) adducts from H(2), CO(2), and neat NEt(3). Pure HCOOH is freed from the adducts by amine exchange.     

Self-assembly of mixed Pt and Au nanoparticles on PDDA-functionalized graphene as effective electrocatalysts for formic acid oxidation of fuel cells

Pt and Au nanoparticles with controlled Pt?:?Au molar ratios and PtAu nanoparticle loadings were successfully self-assembled onto poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA)-functionalized graphene (PDDA-G) as highly effective electrocatalysts for formic acid oxidation in direct formic acid fuel cells (DFAFCs). The simultaneously assembled Pt and Au nanoparticles on PDDA-G showed superb electrocatalytic activity for HCOOH oxidation, and the current density associated with the preferred dehydrogenation pathway for the direct formation of CO(2) through HCOOH oxidation on a Pt(1)Au(8)/PDDA-G (i.e., a Pt?:?Au ratio of 1?:?8) is 32 times higher than on monometallic Pt/PDDA-G. The main function of the Au in the mixed Pt and Au nanoparticles on PDDA-G is to facilitate the first electron transfer from HCOOH to HCOO(ads) and the effective spillover of HCOO(ads) from Au to Pt nanoparticles, where HCOO(ads) is further oxidized to CO(2). The Pt?:?Au molar ratio and PtAu nanoparticle loading on PDDA-G supports are the two critical factors to achieve excellent electrocatalytic activity of PtAu/PDDA-G catalysts for the HCOOH oxidation reactions.     

Evidence of Kinetically Relevant Consistency in Thermal and Photo-Thermal HCOOH Decomposition over Pd/LaCrO3/C3N4 Composite

Photo-thermal catalysis has been an attractive alternative strategy to promote chemical reactions for years, however, how light cooperates with thermal energy is still unclear. We meet this demand by exploring reaction mechanism via pressure dependency studies as well as H/D exchange experiments with HCOOH decomposition as a probe over a palladium nanoparticle (Pd_n) and isolated Pd (Pd₁) decorated LaCrO₃/C₃N₄ composite catalyst, in which the H₂ formation rate shows a first-order dependence on HCOOH and inverse first-order dependence on CO partial pressures no matter the reaction was driven by thermal or photo-thermal energy. Additionally, negligible kinetic isotopic effects (KIEs: k_H/k_D) were determined under both dark and light conditions at 1.04 and 1.18 when the HCOOH was replaced by HCOOD. Besides, when the reactant HCOOH was further replaced by DCOOD, the KIE values of 1.55 (dark) and 1.92 (light) were obtained, which indicates that the HCOOH decomposition follows kinetically relevant (KR) of C−H bond rupture within HCOOH molecule under both thermal and photo-thermal reaction conditions and the catalytic surface was found to be densely covered by CO based on the pressure dependency studies as well as the in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. Clearly, the HCOOH decomposition driven by thermal and photo-thermal energy follows the same reaction mechanism. Nevertheless, light induced hot electrons and the derived thermal effect do cause the enhancement of the reaction activity in some circumstances compared with bare thermal catalysis, which clarifies the confusion on cooperation mechanism of photo and thermal energies from the kinetic perspective. Hot electrons induced by photo-illumination was confirmed by in situ FTIR CO chemisorption with ∼10 cm⁻¹ redshift identified of the CO feature once light was introduced. Meanwhile, the photo thermal reaction system suffers from severe electron-hole re-combination at high reaction temperatures and make the thermal effect of photo irradiation dominant with respect to the effect at low reaction temperatures. This research provides insight to the mechanism on how photo-thermal reaction works and draws attention to the photo-thermal reaction process in boosting catalytic activity.     

The kinetics of CO pathway in methanol oxidation at Pt electrodes, a quantitative study by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy

Methanol (MeOH) oxidation reaction (MOR) at Pt electrodes under potentiostatic conditions has been investigated by electrochemical in situ FTIR spectroscopy (FTIRS) in attenuated-total-reflection configuration under controlled flow conditions in 0.1 M HClO(4) with 2 M MeOH, where the mass transport effects are largely eliminated using a flow cell. Our results reveal that (i) at constant potentials, the methanol dehydrogenation rate decreases while the CO(ad) oxidation rate increases with the accumulation of CO(ad) until the maximum CO(ad) coverage (ca. 0.5 ML i.e., the steady state) is reached; (ii) at fixed CO(ad) coverage, the rates for MeOH decomposition to CO(ad) and CO(ad) oxidation increases with potential from 0.3 to 0.7 V (vs. RHE), with Tafel slopes for MeOH dehydrogenation of ca. 440 ± 30 mV/dec, which is independent of CO(ad) coverage; (iii) the current efficiency of the CO pathway in MOR at 0.6 and 0.7 V is below 20% and it decreases toward higher potentials. The mechanisms as well as the potential induced change in the kinetics of different pathways involved in MOR are briefly discussed.     

铂单晶电极表面不可逆反应动力学I.Pt(100)单晶电极上甲酸氧化的现场红外反射光谱研究

运用电化学暂态方法和现场时间分辨ＦＴＩＲ反射光谱研究甲酸在Ｐｔ（１００）单晶电极上的解离吸附和氧化过程,深入认识了甲酸解离吸附的反应速率在－０．２５至０．２５Ｖ电位区间呈火山形变化的规律。根据电化学现场时间分辨红外光谱的研究结果,提出在研究反动力学时避免甲酸解离吸附干扰的方法,为进一步研究甲酸在Ｐｔ（１００）电极表面经活性中间体直接氧化至ＣＯ２的反应动力学奠定了基础。     

铂单晶电极表面不可逆反应动力学──Ⅰ.Pt(100)单晶电极上甲酸氧化的现场红外反射光谱研究

运用电化学暂态方法和现场时间分辨FTIR反射光谱研究甲酸在Pt（100）单晶电极上的解离吸附和氧化过程．深入认识了甲酸解离吸附的反应速率在-0．25至0．25V电位区间呈火山形变化的规律．根据电化学现场时间分辨红外光谱的研究结果，提出在研究反应动力学时避免甲酸解离吸附干扰的方法，为进一步研究甲酸在Pt（100）电极表面经活性中间体直接氧化至CO2的反应动力学奠定了基础．     

Influence of H2 on the gas-phase decomposition of formic acid: a theoretical study

Gas-phase decomposition of formic acid results in final products CO + H2O and CO2 + H2. Experimentally, the CO/CO2 ratio tends to be large, in contradiction with mechanism studies, which show almost equal activation energies for dehydration and decarboxylation. In this work, the influence of H2 on the decomposition mechanism of HCOOH was explored using ab initio calculations at the CCSD(T)/6-311++G**//MP2/6-311++G** level. It was found that, in the presence of H2, the reaction channels leading to CO + H2O are more than those leading to CO2 + H2. With competitive energy, H2 addition to HCOOH can reduce the latter into HCHO, which then dissociates into CO + H2 catalyzed by H2O. Compared to trans-HCOOH, cis-HCOOH and cis-C(OH)2, conformers required for decarboxylation, are less populated due to interactions with H2.     

Spectroscopic and Kinetic Studies of the Reaction of CO+H(2)O and CO+O(2) and Decomposition of HCOOH on Au/H-Mordenite Catalysts

The surface species formed from the reaction of CO+H(2)O and CO+O(2) and decomposition of HCOOH on Au incorporated into H-mordenite zeolite have been studied by means of in situ FTIR spectroscopy. On H-mordenite, a bidentate formate species (2912, 1536, and 1390 cm(-1)) is produced upon exposure to the CO+H(2)O gas mixture at 323 K, as well as different carbonate-like species (1956, 1852, 1705, and 1360 cm(-1)). The latter species was extensively formed in a short time and was responsible for hindering the CO(2) adsorbed species. However, Au/H-mordenite presented different vibration modes of formate species with a high emphasis on the monodentate ones (2950, 2916, 2896, 1690, and 1340 cm(-1)). The HCOOH adsorption on Au/H-mordenite showed two bands at 1622 and 1590 cm(-1) of the nu(as)(OCO) species, suggesting the formation of two types of formate species. The decomposition rate of the formate species formed on Au moieties was faster than that formed on H-mordenite. This was consistent with the calculated activation energies of CO(2) formation that showed a lower value (40.1 kJ/mol) on the former sample than on the latter one (63.3 kJ/mol). A dehydrogenation mechanism is proposed (HCOOH-->H(2)+CO(2)) for the decomposition of HCOOH on the Au/H-mordenite catalyst. On the other hand, the Au/H-mordenite catalyst activated the CO oxidation reaction. This reaction proceeded mainly through the formation of carboxylate species at first, which tended to obviate with time, preferring the formate species. The latter species resulted from the interaction of CO with OH stretching of the zeolite assisted by the presence of gas phase O(2). The formate species is further decomposed with time to carbonate species. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.     

CO2 template synthesis of metal formates with a ReO3 net

The serendipitous discovery of CO2 as a template in the fabrication of ferric formate (1) has led to the preparation of serial metal(III) formates [MIII(HCOO)3.3/4CO2.1/4H2O.1/4HCOOH ]infinity (M = Fe(1), Al (2), Ga (3), and In(4)). The X-ray single-crystal determinations showed that the metals have octahedral geometries and are linked by HCOO- in the anti-anti style into a 3D ReO3 net, where CO2 molecules exist in cages of mmm symmetry and are hydrogen bonded to the formic CH groups. An X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) study revealed that 2 is identical to the documented [Al(HCOO)3.xH2O]. Further synthetic experiments and 13C NMR spectroscopy eventually confirmed that 2 should be formulated as [Al(HCOO)3.3/4CO2.1/4H2O.1/4HCOOH ]infinity, which for decades had been mistakenly given as [AlIII(HCOO)3.xH2O].     

Electrochemistry at Ru(0001) in a flowing CO-saturated electrolyte--reactive and inert adlayer phases

We investigated the electrochemical oxidation and reduction processes on ultrahigh vacuum prepared, smooth and structurally well-characterized Ru(0001) electrodes in a CO-saturated and, for comparison, in a CO-free flowing perchloric acid electrolyte by electrochemical methods and by comparison with previous structural data. Structure and reactivity of the adsorbed layers are largely governed by a critical potential of E = 0.57 V, which determines the onset of O(ad) formation on the CO(ad) saturated surface in the positive-going scan and of O(ad) reduction in the negative-going scan. O(ad) formation proceeds via nucleation and 2D growth of high-coverage O(ad) islands in a surrounding CO(ad) phase, and it is connected with CO(ad) oxidation at the interface between the two phases. In the negative-going scan, mixed (CO(ad) + O(ad)) phases, most likely a (2 × 2)-(CO + 2O) and a (2×2)-(2CO + O), are proposed to form at E < 0.57 V by reduction of the O(ad)-rich islands and CO adsorption into the resulting lower-density O(ad) structures. CO bulk oxidation rates in the potential range E > 0.57 V are low, but significantly higher than those observed during oxidation of pre-adsorbed CO in the CO-free electrolyte. We relate this to high local CO(ad) coverages due to CO adsorption in the CO-saturated electrolyte, which lowers the CO adsorption energy and thus the barrier for CO(ad) oxidation during CO bulk oxidation.     

Melting curve and high-pressure chemistry of formic acid to 8 GPa and 600 K

We have determined the melting temperature of formic acid (HCOOH) as a function of pressure to 8.5 GPa using infrared absorption spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and visual observation of samples in a resistively heated diamond-anvil cell. The experimentally determined incongruent melting curve compares favorably with a two-phase thermodynamic model. Decomposition reactions were observed above the melting temperature up to a pressure of 6.5 GPa, with principal products being CO2, H2O, and CO. At pressures above 6.5 GPa, decomposition led to reaction products that could be quenched as solids to zero pressure, and infrared and Raman spectra indicate that pressure leads to the presence of sp3 carbon-carbon bonding in these reaction products.