The ethanol electrooxidation reaction at rough PtRu electrodeposits: A FTIRS study

In this work, the yields of CO₂ and acetic acid are studied as a function of the roughness of PtRu electrodeposits of fixed atomic composition during the electrooxidation of ethanol in the presence of 0.1 M HClO₄. Based in the findings of a previous work, electrodeposits of three roughnesses (calculated using Scanning Tunneling Microscopy) were prepared and ethanol electrooxidation products were monitored in situ, using FTIR spectroscopy. The results confirm that the pathway producing CO₂ is favored at rougher surfaces and are interpreted on the basis of the existence of a major number of superficial defects at theses surfaces which favors the scission of C–C bonds.