The Role of Water-Surface Interactions of Platinum Based Catalysts in Electrochemical Methanol Oxidation

Abstract

Study focuses on the impact of potential of zero total charge (PZTC) determined with N₂O reduction on different Pt-based catalysts in three important proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) reactions, namely oxygen reduction (ORR), CO oxidation and methanol oxidation (MOR). The catalysts activities are correlated with a change in PZTC, hence with a change of structure and surface coverage of adsorbed water (and other adsorbed species). These correlations indicate that adsorbed water and its dissociation products (OH_ad) together with other adsorbed species govern the trend in the rates of the above reactions.