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"Cheap" Catalytic Converter Iron(I) Catalyzes More Sustainably Than Precious Metals

Source: KIT | Translated by AI 2 min Reading Time

Catalysis is often needed to obtain chemical end products such as plastics or medicines. Researchers at KIT are now replacing expensive catalysts with an iron compound ...

A mass element also makes it possible! What is symbolized here is an iron(I) compound that is currently being examined more closely at KIT in Karlsruhe. It can replace the typical—but expensive—precious metals used in catalysts. Read more here ...(Image: KIT / O. Townrow)
A mass element also makes it possible! What is symbolized here is an iron(I) compound that is currently being examined more closely at KIT in Karlsruhe. It can replace the typical—but expensive—precious metals used in catalysts. Read more here ...
(Image: KIT / O. Townrow)

Catalysts ensure that chemical reactions take place faster or are possible in the first place. They do not change themselves in the process. The best-known example is the catalytic converter in a car, which works with platinum, palladium or rhodium. Although these elements are well suited to many of these applications, they are rare and therefore quite expensive. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are now presenting an alternative for the first time. This is the iron compound iron(I), which is stable in air and has been made directly usable for catalysis. Unlike previously, it can now be used without strong reducing agents. In an initial test, active iron catalysts were created from this, as the KIT reports. The results were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Iron is the fourth most common element in the earth's crust and can take on similar tasks in certain catalytic reactions as the expensive precious metals.

Iron(I) Can Be Produced in A More Targeted Manner And Made More Stable

The focus of the research work is therefore a modular, pre-activated iron(I) source. Incidentally, the Roman numeral here describes the electronic state of the metal. And iron is usually present in chemical compounds as iron(II) or iron(III). However, iron(I) is particularly suitable for certain catalytic reactions because it can accept or release electrons more easily. This enables other reaction pathways, as the researchers explain. Until now, however, a comparably stable starting compound that makes iron(I) directly available for catalytic applications has been lacking. This form of iron therefore often had to be produced during the reaction with the help of additional substances using reducing agents. However, although they transform the iron into the desired reactive variant, they can also change other components. This makes it difficult to control exactly which iron compound is produced in the reaction and how it reacts further. With the new KIT approach, however, this reactive form of iron can now be used more reliably. The team first produced the desired iron(I) outside of the actual catalysis as a separate compound. The iron still sat between two ring-shaped hydrocarbon molecules (duren molecules), which stabilize the reactive metal. In this way, the sensitive iron(I) remains sufficiently stable despite attack by atmospheric oxygen and moisture.

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