Chemicals
Catalysts add the “it” factor in materials Ordinary, almost non-usable materials can be transformed into valuable materials with the help of essential elements called catalysts, reports Angelica Buan.
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atalysts are an axial component in many industrial processes helping to transform a raw material into functional products. While there is nothing magical about these substances, yet, they speed up chemical reactions without being consumed themselves, and enable material advances and diversity in applications of these materials. According to research institute Ceresana’s global catalysts market outlook, catalysts are used in a wide range of applications from packaging and cosmetics, to agricultural fertilisers and oil refining. As stated, more than 80% of products in the chemical industry are made using catalytic processes. Meanwhile, bioplastics are becoming a big application for catalysts, expected to drive an average annual growth rate of nearly 20% per year through 2021. Because of their role in the manufacturing, catalysts remain a strong revenue earner in the chemicals sector. Ceresana, in its market reports, says that the global demand for catalysts will grow nearly 5% per year to US$20.6 billion in 2018 and reaching US$22 billion until 2021, with fast growth being earmarked in the Asia Pacific, Africa and Middle East regions. Innovating with silver One example of a catalyst widely used in the industry is silver. According to Washington-based non-profit association, The Silver Institute, silver is a vital catalyst in the production of two major industrial chemicals, ethylene oxide and formaldehyde, which are important ingredients Silver is a vital catalyst in the production of ethylene oxide and formaldehyde that are important ingredients to make plastic
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in plastics, owing to silver’s unique chemical properties. Moreover, silver remains unaffected by the reaction, thus it is almost completely recovered after use. Silver is also the selected catalyst for creating borophene, a 2D sheet of boron, which the research team from the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, Northwestern University, and Stony Brook University have been developing. Borophene, which is formed as electricallyconductive sheets of boron atoms, possesses metallic properties and is atomically thin, thus, scientists see its huge potential to rival graphene, a carbon-based substitute to silicon that is widely used in computer chips and electronics. Borophene can be utilised for a range of applications from electronics to photovoltaics. The 2D material can be created inside an ultra-high Borophene, a 2D sheet of boron vacuum chamber created with the aid of silver catalyst may outperform graphene via a non-toxic technique called electron-beam evaporation. This technique vaporises a source material and then condenses a thin film on silver substrate. Although borophene is still in the developing stage, and challenges in making it stable from chemical reactions when exposed to air are prompting for further research, scientists sees the material as a solution for making better electronic products in the future. Clean-up act with earth oxide and silver salts Scientists from Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a reusable nano-composite catalyst using an inexpensive rare earth oxide called Ceria, a soft, silvery, ductile metal that easily oxidises in air and resembles the metal iron in its mechanical properties. In its study, the IISc group found that ceria nanoflakes could be combined with silver bromide and silver phosphate to create the nanocomposite catalyst. All it takes for the catalyst to work is to be suspended in water and in sunlight, the researchers said.