Rice University team discovers highly efficient catalyst

Prof Michael Wong and his team reported this month that sub-nanometre clusters of tungsten oxide lying on top of zirconium oxide are a highly efficient catalyst. The catalyst turns straight-line molecules of n-pentane, one of many hydrocarbons in petrol, into better-burning branched n-pentane.

While the catalytic capabilities of tungsten oxide have long been known, it takes nanotechnology to maximise their potential, said Wong, a Rice professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and of chemistry.

After the initial separation of crude oil into its basic components - including petrol, kerosene, heating oil, lubricants and other products - refineries crack (by heating) heavier by-products into molecules with fewer carbon atoms that can also be made into petrol. Catalysis further refines these hydrocarbons.

Refineries strive to make better catalysts, said Wong, although ‘compared with the academic world, industry hasn’t done much in terms of new synthesis techniques, new microscopy, new biology, even new physics. But these are things we understand in the context of nanotechnology.