Electrochemical investigation of platinum electrode in solid electrolyte cell

Electro-oxidation of platinum film electrode deposited on yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is examined in situ using potential programmed voltammetry at 450 °C in oxygen containing atmosphere. Under prolonged anodic oxidation different sorts of oxidized species are formed which are consumed subsequently during a linear cathodic potential scan resulting in three distinct reduction peaks, one of them being fairly reversible while the two others strongly irreversible. Higher oxidation potential and longer time of polarization favor the irreversible processes. The coexistence of three electrochemical processes is explained with the extension of the triple phase boundary. The rapid first process is identified as formation of PtO_x at the electrode/metal interface, the second process - a much slower, parallel one - is related to the phenomenon of oxygen backspillover at the metal/gas interface, and the slowest third process - consecutive to the first one - is attributed to growth of the PtO_x layer at the electrode/metal interface toward the bulk of the metal by analogy to electro-oxidation of platinum in aqueous liquid electrochemistry.