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Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Electrochemical Roughening of Thin-Film Platinum Macro and Microelectrodes
Published on: June 30, 2019
Electro-oxidation of ethanol and acetaldehyde on platinum single-crystal electrodes
Stanley C S Lai1, Marc T M Koper
1Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, PO Box 9502, RA Leiden 2300, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
The electrochemical oxidation of ethanol and acetaldehyde in sulfuric acid and perchloric acid were studied at Pt (111), Pt (110), and a number of Pt [n(l11)x(111)] single-crystal electrodes. The oxidation of ethanol shows a marked dependence on the surface structure, roughly increasing as the surface step density increases. The oxidation of acetaldehyde shows a reversed correlation, the activity decreasing with increasing step density. Based on the results obtained here and reported earlier in electrochemical and ultrahigh vacuum literature, a detailed reaction scheme for the ethanol oxidation mechanism is suggested.
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