Recently, Nature Catalysis released a new study.

The research comes from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Researchers have made progress in the development of a new catalyst. The catalyst is composed of 10 different elements, each of which has the ability to reduce the combustion temperature of methane and oxygen.

This unique catalyst can reduce the combustion temperature of methane by about half - from more than 1400 Kelvin to 600 to 700 Kelvin.

Previously, the team of the school had made a multi-component nano particle catalyst, called high entropy alloy, which was made by using a unique shock wave technology.

Before that, no nanoparticles were made with more than three elements, because once there were too many elements, the atoms of each element tended to separate from each other and become useless.

Using UIC's unique real-time high-temperature electron microscope system, the team found that high entropy nanoparticles composed of 10 kinds of metal oxides were highly stable at a temperature of up to 1073 Kelvin, with single elements uniformly distributed in each nanoparticle, forming a single solid stable crystal structure.

The researchers concluded that the particles composed of 10 elements are not only effective in reducing the combustion point of methane gas, but also stable at these temperatures.

The researchers believe that this catalyst can be used to reduce the emissions of harmful greenhouse gases produced by burning natural gas at home, provide power for turbines, and even provide power for vehicles using compressed natural gas.

Source:

https://phys.org/news/2021-01-swiss-army-knife-catalyst-natural.html