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'Tamed' molecules for more sustainable catalysts: Chemists succeed in synthesizing a spectacular gallium compound

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2024-09-28 02:30:05

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Catalysts play an important role in the manufacture of many products that we encounter in everyday life—for example in cars for exhaust gas purification or in the chemical industry in the production of fertilizers. Catalysts ensure that these reactions take place with low energy consumption and with as few side reactions as possible.

Traditional catalysts are based on rare and hence expensive precious metals such as iridium and rhodium, which also pollute the environment. "In order to make production processes more sustainable, replacing precious metal catalysts with less toxic alternatives such as main group metals is highly desirable," says Prof. Dr. Robert Kretschmer, Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at Chemnitz University of Technology.

The use of aluminum or gallium as a substitute for precious metals has several advantages. "They are among the most abundant metals in the Earth's crust, they are inexpensive and non-toxic, and they have unique chemical properties," says the Chemnitz chemistry professor.