Gold-palladium nanoparticles achieve greener, smarter production of hydroge...( Hydrogen peroxide is one of the worl...)

Hydrogen peroxide is one of the world's most versatile and widely used chemicals. A powerful oxidizing agent, H₂O₂ is commonly used as a bleach, an antiseptic and a disinfectant.

Despite its importance, however, says Christopher J. Kiely, hydrogen peroxide has eluded the best efforts of the chemists seeking a more direct, efficient and environmentally friendly means of producing it.

"Hydrogen peroxide has for decades been made by an indirect energy-intensive process," says Kiely, a professor of materials science and engineering at Lehigh University.

There are other disadvantages, Kiely adds. The economics of the current production method requires H₂O₂ to be produced in large quantities and in solutions with concentrations much higher, and less stable, than those used in most practical applications. This necessitates storage and transporting, which can be hazardous.

Chemists have searched nearly a century for a catalyst that can directly combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce H₂O₂. They have had some luck with palladium, says Kiely, but their efforts have been foiled by a second problem as fast as H₂O₂ is produced, it can decompose to water in the presence of the catalyst.

Now, a group of chemists and materials scientists from the UK and the U.S. is reporting that a carefully tailored alloy of palladium and gold nanoparticles catalyzes the direct production of H₂O₂ while "switching off" the decomposition of the compound. The breakthrough, which culminates more than five years of research on the topic, promises to enable the on-site production of H₂O₂ in smaller quantities and more desirable concentrations.

In an article in the Feb. 20 issue of Science, one of the world's foremost science journals, the group says the decomposition of H₂O₂ can be great
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