Mazda hails breakthrough in exhaust catalyst technology

Mazda Motors has developed a new exhaust catalyst which manages to reduce the amount of expensive precious metals used by 70 to 90 percent. The breakthrough has come through using what is known as single-nanotechnology. Single-nanotechnology is a technology that can control even smaller particles than nanotechnology.

The new development enables Mazda to reduce the amount of platinum and palladium used without affecting the performance of purifying gas emissions while still maintaining the high durability of conventional catalysts. 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 mass together into larger particles. This reduces the catalyst’s effective surface area and the ability of the catalyst to work efficiently. This is then countered by the use of significant amounts of precious metals.

In order to increase the precious metal surface area, Mazda developed a new catalyst using 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 grouping together 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 percent. Moreover, the new catalyst material will maintain the same level of purifying efficiency, with minimal deterioration over time even under the harshest operating conditions.