Abstract
Gallium’s quirky liquid-state properties have pushed that element into the scientific spotlight recently, as researchers have tapped the liquid metal for applications in stretchable electronics and three-dimensional printing. Now gallium is back in the news, this time as a catalyst. Researchers in Germany report that liquid droplets of Ga-Pd alloys function as active and durable catalysts for alkane dehydrogenation. That industrial-scale reaction converts low-value alkanes to higher-value olefins, compounds with C=C bonds that are used to make polymers and chemicals (Nat. Chem. 2017, DOI: 10.1038/nchem.2822). Gallium and some of its alloys exhibit a handful of unique properties, such as a tendency to remain liquid over an enormous temperature range—about 2,000 °C. The metal also has a knack for spontaneously forming an ultrathin oxide skin that stabilizes liquid droplets but easily breaks, allowing the metal to flow momentarily until the skin re-forms around the liquid. A team including Nicola Taccardi and
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