Kinetic study of CO oxidation on step decorated Pt(1 1 1) vicinal single crystal electrodes

In this work, surface modification at atomic level was applied to study the reactivity of step sites on platinum single crystal surfaces. Stepped platinum single crystal electrodes with (1 1 1) terraces separated by monoatomic step sites with different symmetry were decorated with irreversibly adsorbed adatoms, without blocking the terrace sites, and characterized in 0.1 M HClO4 solution. The kinetics of CO oxidation on the different platinum single crystal planes as well as on the step decorated surfaces has been studied using chronoamperometry. The apparent rate constants, which were determined by fitting the experimental data to a mean-field model, decrease after the steps of platinum single crystal electrodes have been blocked by the adatoms. This behavior indicates that steps are active sites for CO oxidation. Tafel slopes measured from the potential dependence of the apparent rate constants of CO oxidation were similar in all cases. This result demonstrates that the electrochemical oxidation of the CO adlayer on all the surfaces follows the same Langmuir–Hinshelwood model, irrespectively of step modification.

► Chronoamperometry has been used to study CO oxidation on Pt stepped surfaces.
► Adatoms step decoration allows determination of the role of steps on CO oxidation.
► Rate constant decreases after step decoration with adatoms.
► Tafel slopes are around 60–90 mV/dec, suggesting a Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism.