Electrochemical promotion of Pt during the oxidation of ethanol

The reaction of ethanol oxidation has been examined over a Pt polycrystalline film deposited on an yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrochemical reactor. Experiments were carried out at 325 °C at atmospheric total pressure and under open and closed circuit conditions. It was found that the electrochemically-induced change in the catalytic rate of ethanol consumption is four orders of magnitude higher than the rate of ion transport through the solid electrolyte. The galvanostatic transient behavior of the consumption rates of ethanol and oxygen and of the formation rates of carbon dioxide and acetaldehyde have been also recorded. Paper presented at the 7th Euroconference on Ionics, Calcatoggio, Corsica, France, Oct. 1–7, 2000.