Our world needs quicker, greener and more efficient processes. One way we can do this is by making reactions happen faster, and it’s essential to our everyday lives. Catalysed reactions are involved in increasing food yields, making plastics, and to clean up our environment by converting poisonous gases from cars into less harmful alternatives.
So what do we need to make this happen? We need nano-scale particles to help and surprisingly, gold might be one of the ways we can do this. It could allow us to make better use of precious raw materials, generate greener fuels using renewables materials such as corn starch, glycerol and recycled waste. If we can be smarter about catalysis, we can lower our energy consumption and our impact on the planet.
This exhibit is presented by Cardiff University.