Chemical manufacturers frequently use toxic solvents such as alcohols and benzene to make products like pharmaceuticals and plastics. Researchers are examining a previously overlooked and misunderstood phenomenon in the chemical reactions used to make these products. This discovery brings a new fundamental understanding of catalytic chemistry and a steppingstone to practical applications that could someday make chemical manufacturing less wasteful and more environmentally sound.
The study led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researcher David Flaherty, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities researcher Matthew Neurock and Virginia Tech researcher Ayman Karim is published in the journal Science.
Combining solvents and metal nanoparticles accelerates many chemical reactions and helps maximize yield and profit margins for the chemical industry. However, many solvents are toxic and difficult to safely dispose, the researchers said. Water works, too, but it is not nearly as efficient or reliable as organic solvents. The reason for the difference was thought to be the limited solubility of some reactants in water. However, multiple irregularities in experimental data have led the team to realize the reasons for these differences were not fully understood.
To better understand the process, the team ran experiments to analyze the reduction of oxygen to hydrogen peroxide – one set using water, another with methanol, and others with water and methanol mixtures. All experiments used palladium nanoparticles.
Read more at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau
Image: Graduate students Abinaya Sampath, left, and Tomas Ricciardulli; professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering David Flaherty; and graduate student Jason Adams. (Credit: Photo by L. Brian Stauffer)