Mazda Cuts Precious Metal Usage 70% in New Single-Nanocatalyst for Mazda3

8 January 2009

Mazda Motor Corporation’s new single-nanocatalyst technology (earlier post) applied in the underfloor catalytic converter in the all-new Mazda3 requires only 0.15g/L of precious metals, approximately 70% less than the 0.55g/L required in the previous model.

Mazda developed the single-nanocatalyst to increase the effective surface area of the precious metals used. By developing a method of controlling precious metal particles that are less than five nanometers (nm) in diameter as well as a proprietary catalyst material structure, Mazda created a catalyst that features single-nanosized precious metal particles embedded in fixed positions. As a result, there is no agglomeration of the particles and the amount of rare metals used can be significantly reduced. Moreover, the new catalyst material will enable very efficient purification with minimal deterioration over time even under the harshest operating conditions.

Going forward, Mazda will progressively introduce the single-nanocatalyst to all its global markets, which will contribute to a reduction in the consumption of rare metals and cleaner vehicle exhaust emissions.