Electrochemical oscillations in the HCHO oxidation on a Pt electrode

Abstract

We first report that current oscillations with in-situ mass oscillations in the electrocatalytic oxidation of formaldehyde were observed on a Pt electrode. In the linear sweep voltammogram, quantitative analysis of in-situ mass change on the Pt surface by electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance gave a clue that CO might be the reaction intermediate species, which covered the active area of Pt surface. It results in the lowest current and the highest mass in a period of oscillations. On the other hand, the lowest value of mass arises from the recover of Pt vacant site due to the CO2 evolution. The periodicity of current oscillations is in excellent agreement with the mass oscillations.