Adsorption/oxidation of CO on highly dispersed Pt catalyst studied by combined electrochemical and ATR-FTIRAS methods: oxidation of CO adsorbed on carbon-supported Pt catalyst and unsupported Pt black.

ATR-FTIRAS measurements combined with linear potential sweep voltammetry were conducted to investigate oxidation of CO adsorbed on a highly dispersed Pt catalyst supported on carbon black, Pt/C, and carbon-unsupported Pt black catalyst, Pt-B. Bands nu(CO) of atop- and bridge-bonded COs were resolved into those of COs adsorbed at terrace and step edge sites by curve-fitting analysis. At the high coverage near the saturation, a band around 1950-1960 cm(-1) assigned to asymmetric bridge-bonded CO, CO(B)(asym), was observed to develop on both Pt/C and Pt-B, which was the predominant type on the latter. Preferential oxidation of atop-CO adsorbed at the step edge site was commonly observed on both Pt/C and Pt-B during the potential sweep from 0.05 to 1.2 V. However, it has been found that CO(B)(asym) is the most reactive species. The high reactivity of the CO(B)(asym) on Pt/C and Pt-B is demonstrated for the first time in the present report. Adsorption of CO on the Pt/C and Pt-B resulted in growth of a sharp nu(OH) band around 3642-3645 cm(-1) which is assigned to non-hydrogen-bonded water molecules coadsorbed with CO. The nu(OH) band frequency exhibits a linear increase with potential with a Stark tuning rate of ca. 20 cm(-1)/V. Analysis of the potential dependence of this band in the CO oxidation potential region led us to conclude that this is the oxygen-containing species to oxidize adsorbed CO. Stark tuning rates of nu(CO) bands for the COs at the terrace and step edge sites on both Pt/C and Pt-B are almost independent of the adsorption sites for both atop- and bridge-bonded COs. However, CO(B)(asym) exhibits tuning rates of 41 cm-1/V and 37 cm-1/ V on Pt/C and Pt-B, respectively, which is in between the rates of atop and symmetric bridge-bonded COs.