Chemists Discover Technique To Transform Ruthenium Into A Promising Catalyst

One of the main instigators in a chemical reaction is the catalyst which ultimately pushes a reaction with certain amplifications in its inherent properties. Fertilizers to hydrogen fuel cells, every possible chemical applications need an extra substance which does not undergo any permanent chemical change, but increases or decreases the rate of the reaction. Recently, a team of scientists led by Xiaohu Xia from the Michigan Technological University has engineered a new method to practically achieve a metal nanoframe catalyst.

The rare transition metal with atomic number 44, Ruthenium is now believed to be the parent element for making a nano-frame catalyst. The team however emphasized on that process where the team exploited minimal amount of Ruthenium, but at the same time it largely enhanced its performance as a catalyst. The Ruthenium crystal was a wise choice because it possesses a gazebo-like atomic arrangements which results in a larger surface area.

Though naturally Ruthenium sports a hexagonal close-packed (hcp) structure, the team could devise a new method which helped Ruthenium to adopt a face-centered cubic (fcc) structure. To create fcc, Ruthenium researchers first grew Ruthenium on a Palladium seed which has a fcc structure. After Ruthenium replicated the structure, Palladium was removed and the side nanostructure was retained for the experiment.

To prove that Ruthenium features the desirable catalytic properties, it has undergone tests such as p-nitrophenol with NaBH4 and the dehydrogenation of ammonia borane. Although the data is not compared to other metal catatlysts, the team claims that it will be the next promising research subject. The complete report was published in the Nano Letters journal.

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