Recent advances in nano precious metal catalyst research at Union Chemical Laboratories, ITRI

This study illustrates some recent progress of nano precious metal catalyst research at Union Chemical Laboratories (UCL). Nano gold catalyst was prepared by a precipitation method, in which, HAuCl4 was precipitated onto a suspension of the iron hydroxide support, with a low calcination temperature at 453 K. The catalysts were highly active with 100% conversion achieved for the oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO) within 10,000 ppm at ambient temperature and high space velocity up to 500,000 h−1. This catalyst had good lifetime and was resistant to moisture and high concentration of CO2. In addition, Pt–Ru/C catalyst for direct methanol fuel cell was prepared with the high surface area mesoporous carbon support and possesses both uniform dispersion of precious metals and very small crystallite size. Catalyst prepared using the incipient-wetness method resulted in the formation of extremely active Pt–Ru/C catalysts. The enhancement in activity is mainly attributed to the intimate contact of Pt and Ru that forms the dual active site.