Role of Bridge-bonded Formate in Formic Acid Dehydration to CO at Pt Electrode: Electrochemial in-situ Infrared Spectroscopic Study

Formic acid (HCOOH) decomposition at Pt film electrode has been studied by electrochem- ical in situ FTIR spectroscopy under attenuated-total-reflection configuration, in order to clarify whether bridge-bonded formate (HCOOb) is the reactive intermediate for CO_ad for-mation from HCOOH molecules. When switching from HCOOH-free solution to HCOOH-containing solution at constant potential (E=0.4 V vs. RHE), we found that immediately upon solution switch CO_ad formation rate is the highest, while surface coverage of formate is zero, then after CO_ad formation rate decreases, while formate coverage reaches a steady state coverage quickly within ca. 1 s. Potential step experiment from E=0.75 V to 0.35 V, reveals that formate band intensity drops immediately right after the potential step, while the CO_ad signal develops slowly with time. Both facts indicate that formate is not the reactive intermediate for formic acid dehydration to CO.