Wednesday, 2nd April 2008 (394 views)

Gold is being used in a new catalyst from Hitachi Maxwell that the company hopes will help it to being a clean source of energy to the market.

The catalyst uses a gold and platinum nanoparticle measuring two to three nanometres to accelerate oxygen reduction reaction in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC).

According to the company, adding gold to the catalyst means its oxygen reduction reaction current per unit area is around 4.8 times higher than previously used catalysts, which employed platinum.

The creation of the new catalyst represents an achievement in nanotechnology for Hitachi Maxwell, as the company had to apply its in-house particle synthetic technology in order to synthesize gold particles smaller than five nanometres. The result is a catalyst with a "highly-active" structure, yet its gold and platinum components are not fully alloyed.

According to the company, the successful development of the catalyst represents a "large step" towards developing PEFC for practical applications and large-scale power supply, such as fuelling homes and cars.

Hitachi Maxwell was founded in 1961 in Japan. It specialises in electronics, batteries and storage media.

 

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