Acetonitrile’s Effect on the Efficiency of Ethanol Electrooxidation at a Polycrystalline Pt Electrode in Relation to pH-Dependent Fuel Cell Applications

oleh: Bogusław Pierożynski, Tomasz Mikołajczyk, Mateusz Łuba, Paweł Wojtacha, Lech Smoczyński

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2020-11-01

Deskripsi

The present paper reports cyclic voltammetric and a.c. impedance spectroscopy investigations on the influence of the acetonitrile concentration on the kinetics (and individual product’s efficiency) of the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR), performed on a polycrystalline Pt electrode surface in 0.5 M H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> and 0.1 M NaOH supporting solutions. The kinetics of the EOR were examined at room temperature over the voltammetric potential range, which covers the electrooxidation of surface-adsorbed CO<sub>Ads</sub> species, as well as the formation of acetaldehyde molecules. In addition, the time-dependent efficiency of acetate and acetaldehyde formation in relation to the initial acetonitrile content for both acidic and alkaline electrolytes was evaluated by means of spectrophotometric Ultraviolet/ Visible Spectroscopy (UV-VIS) instrumental analysis.