ORIGINAL RESEARCH In Situ ATR-FTIR Studies of Ethanol Electro-oxidation in Alkaline Medium on PtRh/C Electrocatalyst Prepared by an Alcohol Reduction Process E. H. Fontes 1 & Sirlane G. da Silva 1 & E. V. Spinace´ 1 & A. O. Neto 1 & R. F. B. de Souza 1,2 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016 Abstract Anion exchange membrane fuel cell is a new chance to produce a functional and portable fuel cell; however, the studies are still at an early stage with few reports regarding the AEMFC. PtRh/C electrocatalysts with different Pt:Rh atomic ratios were prepared by an alcohol reduction process. X-ray diffraction patterns for all PtRh/C materials indicated no shift in Pt(fcc) peaks showing that Rh did not incorporated into Pt lattice; however, the analysis of lattice parameter showed that some Pt atoms are added to Rh(fcc) structure. The mean particle sizes were in the range of 4–5 nm. Electrochemical experiments showed that PtRh/C electrocatalyst with Pt:Rh atomic ratio of 70:30 had superior performance exhibiting a current density of 5.0 mA mg metal -1 . From in situ ATR-FTIR experiments, it was observed that PtRh/C electrocatalyst with Pt:Rh atomic ratio of 70:30 produced more acetate ions than other ones, while the material prepared with Pt:Rh atomic ratio of 50:50 was more selective to CO 2 as observed in acid media. Keywords Ethanol oxidation . Alkaline media . PtRh/C Introduction In theory, fuel cells show high efficiency to convert fuels into electricity when compared to conventional combustion or power generation [1]. Among the types of fuel cells, the direct liquid fuel cell (DLFC) is a technology that still is develop- ment to be applied as portable electronic devices and for sta- tionary applications due to its high energy density, modest operating conditions, and safety [2, 3]. Among the liquid fuels, ethanol is an excellent candidate, because it is not toxic, it is produced by renewable sources (biomass), and it is characterized by high energy density (∼8.0 kWh/kg) [1–4]. In the last two decades, a large number of investigations have been focusing about ethanol oxidation, mainly in acid media, with the purpose of enhancing the electrocatalyst activities for applications in direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFC) [1, 5–11]. However, the complete and efficient oxidation of ethanol is a challenge yet [4, 12]. The products of ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) obtained were mainly the acetaldehyde and acetic acid, and small amounts of CO 2 [2, 12]. The ideal electrocatalyst for this reaction must promote the adsorption and dehydrogena- tion of ethanol, the cleavage of the C–C bond and the oxidation of the resulting CO and CH x intermediates to CO 2 [12]. For this, a wide variety of materials are still studied [1, 5, 13–15]. PtSn electrocatalysts have higher activity than other Pt metals for ethanol oxidation in acid medium [12, 16]; however, this material does not facilitate the breaking of C–C bond as described for PtRh electrocatalyst despite its lower activity [4, 8]. In this case, Pt provides sites for ethanol dehydrogenative adsorption while Rh contributes to C–C bond breaking of these intermediates. Recently, Adzic [8, 17] reported that Rh sites are available to adsorb ethanol in alkaline medium which makes it interesting for fuel cell applications in this medium. * A. O. Neto aolivei@ipen.br 1 Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares, IPEN/CNEN-SP, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 2242 Cidade Universitária, CEP 05508-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil 2 Laboratório de Eletroquímica e Energia, Departamento de Quimica, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Av. General Rodrigo Octávio, 6200, Coroado I, Cep: 69077-000 Manaus, AM, Brazil Electrocatalysis DOI 10.1007/s12678-016-0308-z