The selective oxidation of ethanol to CO2 at Ptpc/Ir/Pt metallic multilayer nanostructured electrodes

In this work, Ptpc/Ir/Pt metallic multilayer nanostructured electrodes were prepared. The composition and number of the constituent metal layers were varied and the number of Ir and Pt layers studied were: 1.5:1.5, 1.5:10, 10:1.5, 10:10 and 250:250 Ir and Pt monolayers. The ethanol electrooxidation reaction and its products was studied using electrochemical in situ FTIR technique and could be observed as a selective cleavage of the ethanol CC bond in acidic electrolyte. Neither acetaldehyde nor acetic acid IR band could be observed for ethanol electrooxidation at 1.5 V vs. RHE over Ptpc/Ir250/Pt250 metallic multilayer electrodes. Also, the enhancement on CO2 production over this electrode was more than six times the amount observed using the Ptpc electrodes. Thus, the complete CC cleavage bond in ethanol molecule was observed, leading only CO2 as reaction product.

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► Selective cleavage of the ethanol C-C bond at metallic multilayers electrocatalyst.
► Onset potential for ethanol oxidation was shifted 197mV towards lower value.
► Neither acetaldehyde nor acetic acid were observed during ethanol electrooxidation.
► The amount of CO2 produced is 6 times higher for metallic multilayers electrodes.