(Invited) Electrochemical Pathways for Electrochemical Oxidation of Acetic Acid

We report new insights into the electrochemical oxidation of acetic acid in mild alkaline media (likely in the acetate form) on a metallic platinum surface. The reaction was carried out chronoamperometrically in an operando electrolysis reactor over a wide potential window. The products were identified and quantified by gas chromatography (GC) and H 1 -nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for gas and liquid phase products, respectively. 12 total products were observed, 3 of which were observed here and reported for the first time: formate, methyl formate and formaldehyde. Ethylene and ethane were detected as the primary gas phase product. The primary liquid products were methyl acetate and methanol. Additionally, a new mechanism is proposed to account for the formation of all the observed products.