Electroxidation of ethanol on a polycrystalline Pd disk electrode in alkaline media was studied by in situ Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) reflection spectroscopy The emphasis was put on the quantitative determination of intermediates and products involved in the oxidation It has revealed that most of ethanol was incompletely oxidized to acetate The selectivity for ethanol oxidation to CO2 (existing as CO32-in alkaline media) was determined as low as 2 5% in the potential region where Pd electrode exhibited considerable electrocatalytic activity (-0 60 to 0 0 V vs SCE) Nevertheless the ability of Pd for breaking C-C bond in ethanol is still slightly better than that of Pt under the same conditions Besides a very weak band of adsorbed intermediate bridge-bonded CO (COB) was identified on the Pd electrode for the first time suggesting that CO2 and CO32- species may also be generated through CO pathway (i e indirect pathway) (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved