The Electrooxidation of 2-Propanol: An Example of an Alternative Way to Look at In Situ FTIR Data

Abstract

This work investigates the electrochemical behavior of 2-propanol in acidic media on polycrystalline Pt surfaces as an attempt to apply a differential methodology to the analysis and handling of FTIR data in order to achieve a better correlation among electrochemical and spectroscopic signals and help to understand the mechanistic aspects involving the electrooxidation of complex molecules. By assumption that acetone is the main product of 2-propanol oxidation, we have used a simple procedure which consists in the differentiation of integrated absorbancies relative to acetone production. The procedure is justified by the Lambert–Beer law, and the results show a good qualitative correlation between the voltammetric profile and spectroscopic signal corresponding to changes in the moieties of acetone during the voltametric sweep.