Nissan Develops New Catalyst Technology

Japan-based Nissan Motor has developed a new catalyst for gasoline-powered cars that utilizes only half the precious metal components compared to the conventional catalyst currently available.

The new catalyst will be introduced in future products from fiscal 2008. The new technology, developed as part of the Renault-Nissan alliance, results in no changes in the performance of the catalyst despite using significantly less precious metal.

Exhaust-cleaning automotive catalysts comprise a mix of platinum, rhodium and palladium.

In conventional catalysts, the high temperatures within the catalyst causes the precious metals to cluster-up, reducing the exposed metal surface area, leading to less-effective cleaning of the gases. Employing advanced nano-technology, Nissan has succeeded in keeping the fine metal particles separated to prevent them from clustering under high temperature conditions.