Alt-Metal at The University!

The University of Minnesota recently invented a machine that can make less expensive metals behave better than their more expensive counterparts. It is being patented.

One of the things many automobile drivers face from time to time, is the routine vehicle inspection to make sure the car is not polluting. Sometimes if the vehicle does not pass the inspection, it is because of oxygen sensors which are pricy, or there is a part called the "catalytic converter" which essentially uses catalytic activity, to keep the outgoing fumes far less toxic. Those are even pricier than oxygen sensors, but car parts are expensive during the COVID event.

It can be very expensive to keep an internal combustion engine from polluting, and even still some marginal pollution is being generated but the idea is that the catalytic converter takes larger pollutants, and turns them into smaller molecules that do not cause as much smog problems. That is what it may take to pass a vehicle inspection.

Catalytic converters, therefore, are hugely important for quality of life worldwide.

However, in order to achieve this feat of chemically "cleaning the air," very pricy metals must be used to make these catalytic converters that are in many vehicles, adding costs to families because of maintenance, and for those who purchase new vehicles, this is one of the expensive parts that you are paying for.

Catalytic converters have palladium and rhodium, both pretty pricy. During crime surges, particularly during this COVID event, criminals steal these parts from cars, and even steal cars for these parts, so the price of this part is certainly holding mankind back on a very massive scale globally.

The situation of crime the world is facing today during the COVID event reminds me of when architect Shigeru Ban wanted to help the people of Haiti, because criminals would steal the metal out of the buildings that non-profits had in Haiti. So, what he did was he began making the buildings out of those cardboard tubes that are in the middle of roles of carpet. Since the cardboard was considered "worthless," the new buildings actually stood the test of time, even though they were made out of simply cardboard coated with some wax. Particle board as a substitute for wood may be another example of such a tactic, due to the high price of lumber. Lumber prices are also impacted by the COVID event.

Making chemicals uses the catalytic properties of metals often. Let's say you want to make ammonia. Basically the Haber Process takes nitrogen and hydrogen and makes ammonia, but it requires a metal catalyst. Such techniques were a breakthrough in their time, but now they are pricy, and this invention can lower the price.

Here is more about the ammonia production example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process

The new invention was arrived at by understanding how electrons behave on the surface of a metal. Inventors realized that if they can add electrons, the resulting metal oxide will behave differently!

The goal is to basically open up plentiful materials and have them behave as precious metals by controlling chemistry.

What they have done is made a machine with nanometer films, and the device can mix metals and metal oxides with graphene to make a "chemically tunable" surface that is friendly to FAST moving electrons. Aluminum is one of the metals they have controlled in this manner. Aluminum is not necessarily "cheap" but it is currently much less expensive than other metals. Graphene is made from carbon nanotubules and has very fascinating properties. Such materials, such as Piezo electrics, can really revolutionize manufacturing in the future. I think this will be a significant advance because while electric vehicles are available, they are far from being economical or practical for the vast majority of people, so the internal combustion engine is certainly here to stay. It cannot be legislated away.

The new device is called a "catalytic condenser."

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacsau.2c00114