Applications of infrared spectroscopy in the study of catalytic reactions and related adsorption phenomena on single crystal electrodes: connections between electrochemical and ultra high vacuum surface science

The aim of this review is to describe applications of infrared spectroscopy in the study of catalytic reactions and related adsorption phenomena at single crystal electrodes. The majority of work in this area has focused on reactions that form adsorbed CO as an intermediate, such as the electrochemical oxidation pathways of CO and several small organic molecules. In particular, studies that probed CO adsorption processes at a variety of single crystal electrode substrates are emphasized, as this work has been of fundamental importance for defining specific structural features of CO adlayers that form in the electrochemical environment. Efforts to derive CO adlayer structural information through comparisons with infrared spectroscopic studies of corresponding metal-adsorbate systems in ultra high vacuum are described, and both experimental and computational work is discussed. Applications of infrared spectroscopy in single crystal electrochemistry not discussed here include work on ionic adsorption [50, 152-156] and bimetallic interfaces (cf. Refs [157-159], as well as Refs [77, 78]). The reader is referred to the recent papers on these topics for a complete discussion of these areas. In addition, important work on polycrystalline materials continues to appear, and several reviews on these related topics are cited throughout the text.