Researchers develop cheap and efficient ethanol catalyst from laser-melted nanoparticles

Ethanol fuel cells are regarded as promising sources of green electricity. However, expensive platinum catalysts are used in their production. Research on laser melting of suspensions carried out at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Cracow, has led researchers to materials that catalyze ethanol with a similar—and potentially even greater—efficiency to platinum, yet are made of an element that is many times cheaper than platinum.