Hydrogen Oxidation on a Platinum Microelectrode: Effect of Carbon Monoxide Impurities

The kinetics of the hydrogen oxidation and the CO adsorption on a Pt (ultra)microelectrode is studied in a 0.5 M H₂SO₄ solution saturated with a mixture of gaseous H₂ and CO at partial CO pressures p _CO = 10–500 ppm. The balance between rates of diffusion and adsorption of CO at different adsorption times is studied. Studied is the effect of CO impurities in H₂ on steady-state polarization curves for the hydrogen ionization and nonsteady-state curves of the oxidation current decay with time at 0.02–0.05 V. Conditions under which in a certain time interval and at a certain CO concentration the slope of an I vs. t curve is proportional to p _CO are determined. The obtained dependence may be used when designing a technique for monitoring CO impurities in technical hydrogen.