Researchers have created a new piece of nanotechnology involving platinum which could dramatically reduce the cost of catalytic converters, it has been revealed this week.

Exduco.net reports that Professor Stacey Bent and her team have developed a porous chip of carbon called an aerogel, which is laced with platinum particles and has a sponge-like feel.

Their findings represent a significant advance because the new aerogel ensures that the platinum is better exposed to the reacting chemicals, meaning less of the precious metal is needed to combine oxygen and carbon monoxide.

Professor Bent is quoted by the website as saying: "Catalysis is a huge industry already and it's going to become more important with all the new environmental and sustainable energy technologies.

"So we're trying to come up with better catalysts or at least find ways to use less of the rarer materials."

In August, Professor Bent reported in Nano Letters journal that the aerogels can convert nearly all of a carbon monoxide sample into carbon dioxide, using just 0.05mg of platinum per sq cm of internal surface area in the process.

She achieved the results after infusing the platinum through atomic layer deposition, whereby vapour from all the elements involved permeates the aerogel in a hot oven.

The development could have a huge impact on the industry as a whole, with hydrogen fuel cells, for example, requiring between 2mg and 8mg per sq cm of platinum to separate the hydrogen into a positive ion and a free electron.

However, Professor Bent explained that while the assumption that the technique would work in fuel cells cannot be made for definite, she believes reducing the figure to 1mg per sq cm of platinum is possible.

"That would be one of the next things we'd like to try," she told the website. "We've already done some preliminary experiments on it."



Source:

Nanotechnology research could take the cost out of catalysis (29/10/08)
http://www.exduco.net/news.php?id=3004