Methanol Oxidation on Nation Spin-Coated Polycrystalline Platinum and Platinum Alloys

Linear sweep voltammetry of polished polycrystalline electrodes in perchloric acid shows no methanol oxidation at potentials more negative than , and barely discernable methanol oxidation at , without prior cyclic voltammetric (CV) activation, even at scan rates up to . Spin‐coating a thin Nafion film onto the electrode enables a first scan methanol oxidation onset at , with an order of magnitude enhancement for methanol oxidation at without prior cyclic voltammetric activation. The Nafion film apparently prevents poisoning of the surface by , and allows one to observe dual pathway methanol oxidation at low overpotential in the first CV scan. Because CV activation is not required, the same procedure can be used to study methanol oxidation at Nafion‐coated alloy electrodes . These electrodes were compared to in at . The onset of anodic current attributed to methanol oxidation occurs at more negative potentials with the alloy electrodes than with pure .