Enhanced electrochemical oxidation of methanol on copper electrodes modified by electrocorrosion and electrodeposition

CARUGNO SOFÍA; ELISABETH CHASSAING; MICHEL ROSSO; GONZÁLEZ GRACIELA

MATERIALS CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2013 vol. 143 p. 1012 - 1017

0254-0584

In this paper, we report a study of electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol on copper electrodes subjected to different surface treatments, either electrocorrosion or electrodeposition in the absence of strong hydrogen co-deposition. The surface morphology of treated electrodes was examined by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM). The effect of different treatment conditions and the methanol concentration dependence were evaluated by cyclic voltammetric technique. The results indicate that theoxidation of methanol can be enhanced by a suitable micro and nano structure generated by these treatments. This enhanced electrode activity is related to an increase of the effective surface area and/or to an increase of the surface concentration of electroactive molecules or intermediates.