Kinetics of methanol electrooxidation on Pt/C and PtRu/C catalysts

This paper analyzes the performance of platinum and platinum:ruthenium carbon-supported catalysts modified by the application of in-situ cathodic polarizations towards the methanol oxidation reaction. These new electrodes are characterized by electrochemical techniques together with transmission electron microscopy images to envisage the dispersion of the catalyst. We measure methanol electrooxidation current transients, fitting the results with a general kinetic equation for a mixed mass and charge transfer processes for adsorbed reactant species. The kinetic equation also helps to predict the exponent of the chronoamperometric decay as directly related to the fractal dimension of the catalyst surface and to discuss the possible processes involved in the electrocatalytic reaction.