Combustion catalyst
The efficiency of internal combustion engine is about 30-40% at present. Nanotechnology could improve combustion by designing specific catalysts with maximized surface area. Nanotechnology can contribute to the reduction of combustion engine pollutants by nanoporous filters, which can clean the exhaust mechanically, by catalytic converters based on nanoscale noble metal particles or by catalytic coatings on cylinder walls and catalytic nanoparticles as additive for fuels. Many nanomaterials make use of rare earth metals such as Pd and Pt. These metals are important for catalytic applications such as automobile catalytic converters. The challenge is in increasing efficiency, reducing metal quantity and cost, increasing lifetime and decreasing their operating temperature.
Chemical catalysis
Chemical catalysts made of nanoparticles have extremely large surface to volume ratio as the particle size decreases and the weight remains the same. The application potential ranges from fuel cell to catalytic converters and photocatalytic devices. Nanoscale catalyst can transform coal into diesel fuel and gasoline. Nanoparticles has been used in the automotive catalytic converters. A variety of chemical reactions take place on the surface of the catalyst and the larger the surface area, the more active the catalyst. Nanoscale catalysts thus open the way for numerous process innovations to make many chemical processes more efficient and resource-saving.