In situ FTIRS studies of kinetics of HCOOH oxidation on Pt(110) electrode modified with antimony adatoms

The electrochemical behavior of irreversibly adsorbed antimony on a Pt(110) electrode (Pt(110)/Sb) with various coverages was studied using cyclic voltammetry. The kinetics of HCOOH oxidation via reactive intermediates on Pt(110)/Sb were investigated quantitatively by employing the potential step technique and in situ FTIR spectroscopy. The results demonstrated that Sb adatoms were stable on Pt(110) when the electrode potential was below 0.45 V (SCE). It has been revealed that the dissociative adsorption of formic acid can be inhibited by the presence of Sb_ad on the Pt(110) surface. The electrocatalytic effects of Sb_ad towards HCOOH oxidation consist in a negative shift of the oxidation potential (about 350 mV) and the enhancement of the oxidation current. Based on the data processing method of integration transform developed in our previous papers, the kinetics of HCOOH oxidation on Pt(110)/Sb electrodes of different θ_Sb have been investigated quantitatively, and both the rate constant k_f and the transfer coefficient β were determined and reported.