In Situ FTIR Studies of Ethanol Oxidation at Polycrystalline Pt in Alkaline Solution

This paper presents in situ FTIR studies on the electrochemical oxidation of ethanol at polycrystalline Pt in 0.1 M KOH; the data obtained with C2H5OH are compared to results obtained using C2D5OD under the same conditions. The work continues our earlier studies on methanol and formate oxidation and supports the model formulated on the basis of these papers that, in contrast to acidic solution, under alkaline conditions intermediates are formed bonded through. 0 rather than C and that a number of mechanistic pathways are available differing very little in terms of activation energy.