NIMS Develops New Catalyst Material to Reduce Rare Metal Usage

National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japanese independent administrative institution, announced on Tuesday the institution succeeded in development of new exhaust gas catalyst material which shows 10-time high resistance against thermal aggregation. This material is expected to contribute to less rare metal usage for exhaust gas purification systems or fuel batteries.

NIMS developed a hollow platinum sphere with 0.01 millimeter diameter, called “metallic cell.” The metallic cell has a 0.001mm-diameter thin hole, through which automotive exhaust gas enters the cell, be purified inside the cell and comes out.

Catalytic active sites are inside the metallic cell. Consequently, the metallic cell can represent long-time catalytic activity even under high temperatures.

General metallic catalysts tend to aggregate by heat. Surface catalytic sites decrease as a result of thermal aggregation. To cover the catalytic activity, catalytic rare metals such as platinum, palladium and rhodium should be oversupplied.