A research team led by Dr. Park Ji-chan at the Clean Fuel Research Laboratory of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER, President Kim Jong-nam) succeeded in developing an ultimate nickel nano-catalyst, which offers 1.9 times better productivity in oxygen production compared with conventional catalysts, on an automated synthesis system. The team’s findings were published in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Reaction Chemistry & Engineering, featured as the back-cover article in its July edition.

The team developed a new automated catalyst synthesis system and formulas to produce high-performance nano-catalysts using locally produced metal precursors, which cost only 15% of the imported counterparts. With this technology, they also succeeded in synthesizing nano-catalyst with homogeneous nickel nanoparticles of 4.5, 7.9, or 8.8 nanometers in size deposited in alumina, active carbon, or silica supporters with a high weight ratio of 25%.

The nickel/alumina nano-catalysts made with this automated technology, when introduced to methane-steam reforming for hydrogen production, showed higher reactivity, higher methane conversion rates, and better stability at a high temperature compared with conventional catalysts and yielded 1.9 times higher hydrogen productivity, demonstrating the excellence of the technology.

The research team demonstrated that anyone, even non-professionals, would be able to have reliable high-performance nano-catalysts synthesized easily using the automated synthesizer. It is expected that, with future developments, the automated system will be capable of synthesizing different nanomaterials, in addition to solid catalysts, and producing big data for nanomaterial synthesis.