Electrooxidation of Methanol on Pt Modified with Adatoms (NI, CU, PB, CD).

The electro oxidation of methanol has been studied in alkaline medium NaOH 0.1 M and acid medium H2SO4 0.5 M on a platinum electrode and a platinum modified by adatom adsorption (Ni, Cu, Pb, and Cd). The influence of different experimental variables (methanol concentration, and temperature) is reported. Preliminary investigations by cyclic voltammetry showed that the catalytic activity of platinum is still too low to be considered as a practical catalyst. Underpotential deposition of lead, nickel, cadmium, or copper adatoms at platinum allowed increasing significantly the current densities.