Structures of surface adlayers and oxygen reduction kinetics

Structures of metal and anion adlayers have been determined during the course of oxygen reduction by in situ surface X-ray scattering techniques. These measurements provide answers to several open questions of the oxygen reduction electrocatalysis. These include the bridge site of O2 during reduction on Pt(111), the oxidation/redeposition of Tl adatoms as a possible origin of their catalytic action in a four-electron O2 reduction on Au(111) and the structure and stability of Br adlayers which block in different ways O2 reduction on Ag(100), Au(100) and Pt(111).