Investigation of Methanol Oxidation on Polycrystalline Pt: Importance of the Water-Gas Shift Reaction

Authors: NİYAZİ ALPER TAPAN, JAI PRAKASH

Abstract: A water-gas shift reaction model was proposed for methanol oxidation on polycrystalline platinum. To see if the model proposed can explain methanol oxidation on platinum metal, a polycrystalline platinum electrode was used and simulations were compared with the chronoamperometric experiments at different applied potentials, E < 0.6 V. The pseudo steady state hypothesis model shows that at E < 0.6 V the water gas shift reaction can explain the methanol oxidation. After 0.45 V the rate-determining step shifted from a water-gas shift reaction to third decomposition and CO formation. Dynamic profiles showed that surface CO, CHO and CH_2O show completely different profiles from PSSH. The water-gas shift reaction was always the rate-determining step in the potential range studied with oxidation times of less than 1 s.

Keywords: Water-gas shift, Methanol, Oxidation, Platinum, Carbon monoxide

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