Mendoza Lab Help turn defects into something useful

Source: https://www.egr.msu.edu/news/2021/11/30/turning-inert-materials-useful-active-ones

Michigan State University’s Jose Mendoza-Cortes is part of an international team exploring if defects can turn inert materials into useful, active ones.

Collaborative research by the assistant professor of chemical engineering and materials science was recently published in "Materials Today" and is featured on the Pennsylvania State University news site, which can be viewed here.

In the story courtesy of Penn State, Mendoza-Cortes says: “The catalytic converter in your gasoline car has the precious metal platinum in it to process the conversion of harmful gases into less harmful gases. However, this is expensive because you need to put in a lot of platinum atoms for the catalysis. Now imagine that you only need to put one or two, and still get the same performance.”

Platinum is also used as a catalyst for many other types of practical chemical reactions, and the platinum atoms that perform the conversion are usually on the surface, while the ones below are just there as structural support.

Additionally, the research news has been published in media including ACerS Ceramic Tech Today, Phys Org, Eurek Alert, Science Daily, AZO Materials and Newswise.