Japanese automaker and a Ford group company, Mazda has announced the development of a new single-nanotech prototype catalyst

Nanotechnology has been attracting the auto industry with the view of achieving new goals. It is a technology that has found an attractive experimenting ground with the auto sector. The latest comes from the Japanese auto maker Mazda, which has announced that it has developed a single nanotechnology prototype catalyst for autos. The technology uses single-nanotechnology to create a catalyst material structure, which substantially reduces the amount of precious metals that are used, such as platinum and palladium.

The new development enables Mazda to reduce the amount of platinum and palladium used in automotive catalysts by 70 to 90 per cent. It does not result in any changes in the performance of purifying gas emissions and maintains the high durability of conventional catalysts. Single-nanotechnology is a technology that can control even smaller particles than nanotechnology.

In automotive catalysts, precious metals promote chemical reactions that purify exhaust gases on their surfaces. In conventional catalysts, the precious metals are adhered to a base material. Exposure to exhaust gas heat causes the precious metal to agglomerate into larger particles. This reduces the catalyst's effective surface area and catalytic activity, which requires the use of a significant amount of precious metals to counter and maintain an efficient purification performance.

In order to increase the precious metal surface area, Mazda developed a new catalyst using its proprietary catalyst material structure and precious metal particles that are less than 5 nanometers (nm) in diameter. This is the first time that a catalyst material has been achieved that features single, nanosized precious metal particles embedded in fixed positions.

As a result, there is no agglomeration of the precious metal particles, and the amount of high-priced precious metals used in three-way catalytic converters -- which purify gasoline-engine exhaust gases -- can be reduced by 70 to 90 per cent. Moreover, the new catalyst material will maintain the same level of purifying efficiency, with minimal deterioration over time and even under the harshest operating conditions.