Understanding formic acid oxidation mechanism on platinum single crystal electrodes

Recent results on the formic acid oxidation reaction on platinum electrodes, especially those obtained for platinum single crystal electrodes are reviewed. With all the available data, a detailed mechanism for both reaction paths of the mechanism is proposed. For the CO formation path, oxidation and reduction steps are involved sequentially. On the other hand, the active species is a monodentate adsorbed formate. This adsorption mode is favored in the presence of additional adsorbed species in the neighborhood. The proposed mechanism agrees with all the experimental results obtained for the reaction.