Precious Metal Catalysts: Chinese Scientists Achieve Near-Total Utilisation Rate

Chinese researchers have announced a major advancement in catalytic science, achieving near-total utilisation of precious metal atoms in catalytic reactions.

The development, led by the New Energy Chemical Engineering Team at Tianjin University, promises to maximise the catalytic value of these metals at an atomic level. It is expected to open new avenues for designing a new generation of highly efficient, lower-cost catalysts, potentially making many chemical production processes more sustainable and less carbon-intensive.

Catalysts, often termed the 'heart' of the modern chemical industry, are crucial for accelerating chemical reactions. Precious metals form critical components within them, and their usage directly affects the energy consumption and output of industrial processes. Improving the efficiency of these expensive metals is seen as a key challenge for the sector's green transition.

In conventional catalytic reactions, a significant proportion of precious metal atoms tend to clump together into larger particles. This leaves many atoms trapped inside, unable to interact in surface reactions, which drastically reduces efficiency. This problem is especially acute in processes like propane dehydrogenation-a vital step in producing propylene, a key chemical building block.

Confronting this issue, the Tianjin University team, after nearly ten years of research, developed a new 'atomic extraction' technique. This method achieves close to 100% utilisation of the precious metal atoms, dramatically improving catalytic efficiency in propane dehydrogenation.

Compared to existing catalysts, the new technology can reduce the consumption of precious metals by approximately 90%. This addresses long-standing bottlenecks for the propylene industry: high catalyst costs and a heavy reliance on substantial amounts of precious metals. The research offers a potentially cheaper and more sustainable technological pathway for this sector and the wider chemical industry.

The project was a collaborative effort, with Tianjin Normal University, Peking University, and Zhejiang University of Technology also participating.

Professor Gong Jinlong, the team leader, stated: 'This achievement not only realises nearly 100% utilisation of precious metal atoms but also pioneers new pathways for designing highly efficient catalysts.'

'We shall continue to advance the deep integration of fundamental research and applied practice, providing key technological support for the green and low-carbon transformation of the chemical industry.' he added.