Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction on palladium based catalysts activated with germanium Original Research Article

The electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate has been studied with electrochemical methods on palladium and palladium–platinum electrodes activated with germanium. The formation of a palladium–germanium alloy that occurs at germanium coverage above 0.2 has a strong enhancing effect on the rate of nitrate reduction, whereas the reaction rate is low for germanium coverage below 0.2. Palladium electrodes covered with a submonolayer platinum are effectively activated by a low germanium coverage. Cyclic voltammetry of adsorbed NO shows that the higher reactivity of palladium–platinum electrodes in the nitrate reduction is related to the higher reactivity of platinum towards NO reduction as compared to palladium.