This research project, supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program, focuses on the decomposition reaction of methanol on platinum electrode surfaces and on modified platinum electrode surfaces. Professor Wieckowski and his students at the University of Illinois at Urbana will use electrochemical methods combined with core-level electron energy loss spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and a new radiochemical method to characterize the reaction mechanisms associated with these reactions. The goal of this work is to understand, and thereby prevent, those reactions that foul the electrode surface during methanol decomposition so that these sytsems can be used as practical fuel cells. This work has enormous technological potential. Studies of the decomposition reaction of the simplest alcohol, methanol, on platinum and modified platinum electrodes will be studied in this work. Over time, this reaction fouls the electrode and the reaction ceases to occur. This prevents use of methanol, an inexpensive source of energy, in fuel cells that could otherwise be used in many practical applications.
