In Situ FT-IR Investigation of Methanol and CO Electrooxidation on Cubic and Octahedral/Tetrahedral Pt Nanoparticles Having Residual PVP

The methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and related carbon monoxide (CO) oxidation reaction (COR) activities on the synthesized cubic and octahedral/tetrahedral (O/T) Pt nanoparticles (NPs) still having residual polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were investigated using electrochemical (EC) and in situ Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic measurements in both 0.1 M HClO4 and 0.1 M H2SO4. While EC measurements confirmed the enhanced MOR activity on the O/T Pt NPs as observed previously (Susut et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 10:3712, 6), the in situ IR measurements showed much improved data quality as compared to the previous studies and provided strong indications that the underlying reason for the observed MOR enhancement on the O/T Pt NPs was highly likely related to the enhanced no-CO-generating reaction pathway(s), as evidenced by much lower CO generation during the MOR on these Pt NPs.