An interdisciplinary research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has designed size-optimized platinum nanoparticles for catalysis in fuel cells that exhibit specific and mass activities twice as high as the best commercially catalysis available today (Tanaka commercial Pt/C). A paper on their work is published in the journal... Read more →

An international team led by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has developed an efficient sodium-doped ruthenium electrocatalyst with improved oxygen evolution activity and durability in acidic media. An open-access paper on their work is published in Nature Communications. Na doping increases the oxidation state of Ru, thereby displacing positively... Read more →

Researchers at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), with colleagues in Korea, Japan, and the US, have added copper and platinum nanoparticles to the surface of a blue titania photocatalyst, thereby significantly improving its ability to recycle atmospheric carbon dioxide into hydrocarbon fuels (methane and ethane). The... Read more →

Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung in Düsseldorf report on a new class of electrocatalysts that is theoretically suitable for universal use. These high entropy alloy nanoparticles are formed by mixing close to equal proportions of five or more elements, and may push the boundaries of traditional... Read more →

A team of researchers in Italy has transformed chars—the least valuable by-product of waste-tire pyrolysis—into highly efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) catalysts for use in alkaline fuel cells and metal air batteries. A paper on their work is published in the Journal of Power Sources. The dramatic growth in the... Read more →

Catalytic converters have been used in the US since the 1970s as a way to clean up pollutants from vehicle exhaust. In the catalytic process, rare metals such as platinum, are used in a chemical reaction to convert carbon monoxide and other pollutants to non-toxic carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and water.... Read more →

Researchers at the University of Arkansas, with colleagues from Brookhaven National Lab and Argonne National Lab, have found that nanoparticles composed of nickel and iron are more effective and efficient than other more costly materials when used as catalysts in the production of hydrogen fuel through water electrolysis. A paper... Read more →

A team led by researchers from Kanazawa University in Japan, with colleagues from Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion in China, have used ozone from an atmospheric-pressure non-equilibrium plasma together with the desulfurization catalyst MnO2 to almost completely eliminate NO2 and SO2 from diesel exhaust gas at a low temperature of... Read more →

ReactWell, LLC, has licensed a novel waste-to-fuel technology from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to improve energy conversion methods for cleaner, more efficient oil and gas, chemical and bioenergy production. ReactWell will bring ORNL’s electrochemical process, which converts carbon dioxide directly into ethanol (earlier post), into the... Read more →

A team from Johns Hopkins University, Purdue University and the University of California at Irvine has developed a new strategy to tailor and to optimize the reactivity of metal catalysts in applications such as fuel cells. The application of their method could help cut down on expensive metals needed in... Read more →

A novel ruthenium-based catalyst developed by researchers at UC Santa Cruz (UCSC) has shown markedly better performance than commercial platinum catalysts in alkaline water electrolysis for hydrogen production. The catalyst is a nanostructured composite material composed of carbon nanowires with ruthenium atoms bonded to nitrogen and carbon to form active... Read more →

An international team of researchers led by a group from the University of Manchester in the UK has used a biological technique which won the 2017 Nobel Chemistry Prize to reveal 3D atomic-scale chemistry in metal nanoparticles used as catalysts. It is the first time this technique has been for... Read more →

More than 100 years after the introduction of the Haber–Bosch process, scientists continue to search for alternative ammonia production routes that are less energy-demanding. A team from the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou has now discovered that black phosphorus is an excellent catalyst for the electroreduction of nitrogen... Read more →

Inspired by the breathing process of mammalian alveoli, scientists at Stanford University have developed a breathing-mimicking, pouch-type, nanoporous polyethylene (PE) structure for two-way efficient gas transport from and to an electrocatalyst/electrolyte interface. Their research is published in the journal Joule. Electrocatalytic oxygen evolution and reduction reactions play a central role... Read more →

Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) have shown that recycling carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals and fuels can be economical and efficient using a single copper catalyst. The work appears in the journal Nature Catalysis. …... Read more →

Argonne chemists have identified a new catalyst that maximizes the effectiveness of platinum. Platinum—which offers unrivaled activity and stability for electrochemical reactions, such as the conversion of hydrogen and oxygen into water and electricity in fuel cells—is both scarce and expensive. Scientists are searching for alternative practical fuel cell catalysts... Read more →

Researchers at Australia’s have developed less expensive and more efficient catalysts for producing hydrogen from water-splitting. In a paper in Advanced Functional Materials, they reported introducing a low concentration of gold into Co(OH)2 followed by electrodeposition of Ni(OH)2 to yield a Co(OH)2‐Au‐Ni(OH)2 composite active in overall water splitting. This material... Read more →

A team from the US Naval Research Laboratory has developed a non-proprietary method for preparing laboratory-scale proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) that have high power and high current densities despite their low platinum loadings. The membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) feature a commercial PtCo catalyst supported on high surface area... Read more →

A University at Buffalo-led research team has developed an efficient platinum group metal (PGM)-free catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in PEM fuel cells that consists of atomically dispersed nitrogen-coordinated single Mn sites on partially graphitic carbon (Mn-N-C). In a paper in Nature Catalysis, the researchers report that the... Read more →

Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung in Germany have discovered an 5-element alloy that is noble metal-free and as active as platinum. They published their paper in the journal Advanced Energy Materials. The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), as a key reaction in electrocatalysis, attracts considerable attention due... Read more →

One factor holding back the widespread use of eco-friendly hydrogen fuel cells in cars, trucks and other vehicles is the cost of the platinum catalysts that make the cells work. One approach to using less precious platinum is to combine it with other cheaper metals, but those alloy catalysts tend... Read more →

A research team led by Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute Of Science And Technology (DGIST) Professor Jong-Sung Yu in Korea, with colleagues at UC Berkeley and Xi’an Jiaotong University in China, has successfully developed a new catalyst synthesis method that can efficiently decompose water into oxygen and hydrogen using solar light. A... Read more →

Rice University nanoscientists have demonstrated a new catalyst that can convert ammonia into hydrogen fuel at ambient pressure using only light energy, mainly due to a plasmonic effect that makes the catalyst more efficient. Their study, published in Science, describes new catalytic nanoparticles which are made mostly of copper with... Read more →

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have mixed metal compounds with perchloric acid to create a stable, efficient electrocatalytic material for the oxygen evolution reaction in acidic media. The resulting porous Y2[Ru1.6Y0.4]O7−δ electrocatalyst exhibits a turnover frequency (TOF) of 560 s−1 (at 1.5 V versus RHE) for the oxygen evolution... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory is launching a four-year, $3.2-million project to develop software that will bring the power of exascale computers to the computational study and design of catalytic materials. Ames Laboratory scientist Mark Gordon, also the Francis M. Craig Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Iowa State... Read more →

Volkswagen and Stanford University have developed in partnership a new catalyst production process to reduce the comparatively high cost of automotive fuel cell technology. One of the biggest cost drivers for fuel cells is the use of the precious metal platinum as a catalyst to operate the fuel cell. The... Read more →

A Dalhousie University-led team has developed a longer-lasting, higher-efficiency platinum catalyst. The new catalyst combines gold and platinum to form what’s known as a single-atom catalyst, resulting in nearly 100-fold increases in efficiency over market platinum catalysts, says Peng Zhang, the Dalhousie professor who led this research. A paper on... Read more →

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is launching the Advanced Combustion Catalyst and Aftertreatment Technologies II (AC2AT-II) consortium focusing on engine emissions solutions and innovative catalyst technologies. The AC2AT-II kickoff meeting will be 15 Nov. at SwRI’s headquarters in San Antonio and is open to interested automotive industry manufacturers. SwRI launched the... Read more →

In an open-access study published in the journal Science Advances, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers, along with their counterparts at Harvard University, report on the hierarchical 3D printing of nanoporous gold, a proof of concept that researchers say could revolutionize the design of chemical reactors. Combining 3D printing through... Read more →

A KAIST research team has developed a fully dispersed Rh ensemble catalyst (ENS) that shows better performance at lower temperatures than commercial diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC). This newly developed ENSs could improve low-temperature automobile exhaust treatment. Precious metals have been used for various heterogeneous reactions, but it is crucial to... Read more →

Researchers at the University of Louisville are developing new catalyst materials for the hydrogen evolution reaction in water splitting, where the bond between hydrogen (H2) and oxygen is released. The current catalyst used in electrolyzers for the production of H2 from water is platinum, which is very expensive. This research... Read more →

Biomass is far more complex than conventional feedstock and the development of the necessary catalysts is traditionally a lengthy and complicated process. For Europe to meet its long-term target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95 % by 2050, cost-effective biomass conversion to fuels is essential. The EU-funded FASTCARD (FAST... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced that 500,000 heavy-duty trucks manufactured by Cummins Inc. will be recalled due to excess emissions caused by defective catalysts. The cause of the excess emissions was purely mechanical—the faster-than-expected degradation of the catalyst—and not the product of a defeat device. The degrading catalysts... Read more →

Researchers at Linköping University and Umeå University in Sweden have developed a new and efficient way to use electrocatalysis to produce hydrogen gas from water using electrodes with nanotruss structures of iron oxide. A paper on their work is published in the ACS journal Nano Letters. The Plasma and Coatings... Read more →

Chemical engineers at Rice University and Pennsylvania State University have shown that combining machine learning and quantum chemistry can save time and expense in designing new catalysts. Their study is published in the journal Nature Catalysis. Single-atom catalysts offer high reactivity and selectivity while maximizing utilization of the expensive active... Read more →

Scientists in Japan have shown that an oxyfluoride is capable of visible light-driven photocatalysis—i.e., converting solar energy to fuel energy using visible-light-absorbing semiconductor materials. The finding opens new doors for designing materials for artificial photosynthesis and solar energy research. Pb2Ti2O5.4F1.2. The inset (on the right) shows a photograph of Pb2Ti2O5.4F1.2,... Read more →

Velocys plc has partnered with PQ Corporation (PQ) for the supply of commercial quantities of Velocys’ proprietary microchannel Fischer-Tropsch catalyst to be used in multiple biorefineries incorporating its technology. PQ is a leading global provider of specialty catalysts, services, materials and chemicals for the refinery, emissions control and petrochemical industries.... Read more →

pH Matter, a developer of new materials for electrochemical applications, with particular expertise in synthetic carbon materials for fuel cells, batteries, and electrolysis, has been awarded more than $1 million in funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE) for the continued development of its COR-Cat high-activity catalyst materials for... Read more →

Researchers at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil have produced biohydrocarbons in the distillation ranges of gasoline, diesel and aviation kerosene from palm kernel oil and palm olein using beta zeolite (HBeta) under relatively mild process conditions. Deoxygenation, cracking and isomerization over HBeta were conducted in single step, without... Read more →

The US Department of Energy has chosen a team led by a chemical engineer from the University of Houston for a $2-million project to develop and optimize a lower-cost, more efficient catalyst to eliminate unreacted methane in natural gas fuel. Primarily made up of methane, natural gas is a cleaner... Read more →

A team led by researchers at the University of Tsukuba in Japan has fabricated non-noble-metal electrodes for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) for electrochemical water splitting using a bicontinuous and open porous NiMo alloy covered by nitrogen-doped (N-doped) graphene with nanometer-sized holes. This noble-metal-free HER catalyst exhibits performance almost identical... Read more →

Research in recent years has shown that applying a strain to metal catalysts—either compression or tension—can in some cases change the way they perform. Now, Brown University researchers have developed a new model to explain why stretching or compressing metal catalysts can make them perform better. The theory, described in... Read more →

Researchers from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in China have developed a new catalyst with enhanced selectivity for a chemocatalytic approach they developed earlier for the production of cellulosic ethanol. In the original process, cellulose is first converted into methyl glycolate (MG) in methanol with the promotion of a... Read more →

Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a new approach for creating new catalysts to aid in clean energy conversion and storage. The design method, reported in a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, (PNAS) also has the potential to impact the discovery of new optical and... Read more →

The Haber-Bosch process developed in the early 1900s relies on non-renewable fossil fuels and large, centralized chemical plants for the large-scale synthesis of ammonia at elevated temperatures (~700 K) and pressures (~100atm). Researchers at the University of Notre Dame have now developed a sustainable low-temperature and -pressure ammonia synthesis process... Read more →

Researchers from Soochow University in China and the University of Toronto have developed a new photocatalyst for the hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol with 50% selectivity under simulated solar irradiation. A paper on their work appears in the journal Joule. The solar methanol production of the defect-laden indium oxide, In2O3-x(OH)y,... Read more →

Catalytic converters for cleaning exhaust emissions are more efficient when they use nanoparticles with many edges, according to a study carried out at the the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), a research center of the Helmholtz Association, X-ray source PETRA III. A team of scientists from the DESY NanoLab watched live as... Read more →

Researchers at Georgia Tech, with colleagues in China and Saudi Arabia, have developed a rationally designed, multi-phase catalyst that significantly enhances the kinetics of oxygen reduction of the state-of-the-art solid oxide fuel cell cathode. The catalyst is also readily applicable to other energy storage and conversion systems, including metal-air batteries,... Read more →

Researchers from Washington State University and Tufts University have “unambiguously” shown for the first time that individual Pt atoms on a well-defined Cu2O film are able to perform CO oxidation (i.e., converting CO to CO2)—a chemical reaction that is commonly used in catalytic converters to remove CO from car exhaust—at... Read more →

An international research team has developed a new single-atom electrocatalyst that efficiently converts CO2 to carbon monoxide (CO). Their findings were published in the RSC journal Energy & Environmental Science. They used Ni single atoms dispersed into graphene nanosheets, without Ni nanoparticles involved, as active sites for the electrocatalytic CO2... Read more →