Liquid platinum and gallium combine for catalysis

When combined with liquid gallium, the amounts of platinum required are small enough to significantly extend the Earth’s reserves of platinum, while potentially offering more sustainable solutions for CO2 reduction, ammonia synthesis in fertiliser production, and green fuel cell creation, together with numerous possible applications in chemical industries. 

The results are published in Nature Chemistry.

Platinum is a very effective catalyst but is not widely used at industrial scale due to cost. Most catalysis systems involving platinum also have high ongoing energy costs to operate.

The melting point for platinum is 1,700°C and when it’s used in a solid state for industrial purposes, there needs to be around 10 per cent platinum in a carbon-based catalytic system.

Consequently, it is not an affordable ratio when trying to manufacture components and products for commercial sale.

Now, scientists at UNSW Sydney and RMIT University have found a way to use small amounts of platinum to create powerful reactions without expensive energy costs.