One of the scenarios of electrochemical oxidation of CO on single-crystal Pt surfaces

We present Monte Carlo simulations illustrating that the transient potential-step kinetics of CO oxidation on single-crystal Pt surfaces are fairly sensitive to adsorbate–adsorbate lateral interactions. Specifically, we show that with realistic values of these interactions (≃1 kcal/mol) the reaction kinetics may be accompanied by CO segregation provided that surface CO diffusion is fast. In addition, we demonstrate that the CO-island formation may be one of the reasons of extinction in CO oxidation. Implications of these findings for interpretation of experimental data are discussed.