Ultrathin palladium nanosheets for better batteries
ChemSci Pick of the Week
An international team of researchers have developed a method for synthesising extraordinarily thin sheets of palladium, as catalysts for faster chemical reactions.
Catalysts are used in over 90% of chemical reactions carried out by the chemical industry, and among the most important catalysts are so-called ‘noble metals’, such as platinum and palladium. These are particularly useful for making fuel cells and batteries.
These metals are of course very expensive, and it is therefore important to make sure they are used as efficiently as possible. Because catalysis only occurs on the surface of a catalyst, one way to increase its efficiency is to increase its surface area.
Ben Liu and his team from Nanjing Normal University in China, along with Jie He from the University of Connecticut, have developed a method of growing ultrathin two-dimensional palladium nanosheets – that is sheets with a thickness on the scale of a millionth of a millimetre.
Because of their large number of exposed surface atoms, compared to a normal 3D catalyst, these 2D catalysts have superior catalytic activity.
Their method uses a type of molecule called a surfactant, which can act as a template for assembly of the nanosheets. All the starting components start off dissolved in a water-based solution, and the nanosheets develop from the solution as solid crystals.
They have now extended their design strategy to other metals such as gold and platinum.
This article is free to read in our open access, flagship journal Chemical Science: Dongdong Xu et al., Chem. Sci., 2018, Accepted Manuscript. DOI: 10.1039/C8SC00605A
ChemSci Pick of the Week
Chemical Science is the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry and publishes findings of exceptional significance from across the chemical sciences. It is a global journal for the discovery and reporting of breakthroughs in basic chemical research, communicated to a worldwide audience without barriers, through open access. All article publication charges have been waived, meaning that the journal is free to read and free to publish.
Every Wednesday we are sharing one story from Chemical Science, highlighting the cutting-edge work we publish. Follow @ChemicalScience and #ChemSciPicks on Twitter to stay up to date.
If you are a journalist wishing to receive brand new research from our journals under embargo, please contact the press office using the contact box below, to be added to our distribution list.
Press office
- Tel:
- +44 (0) 20 7440 3351
- Email:
- Send us an email