US scientists unveil how nickel catalyst can replace expensive palladium in industrial chemistry

Interesting Engineering ^ | July 04, 2025 | Prabhat Ranjan Mishra

[Red Badger]

Scientists have unraveled how light and a previously unknown form of certain nickel-based catalysts together unlock and preserve reactivity.

A team of scientists across several U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories has claimed that their research could potentially advance the use of abundant nickel in place of more expensive palladium in industrial chemistry.

“Pharmaceuticals is the only area that has commercialized light-driven nickel catalysis so far, but nickel-based catalysts can also potentially replace palladium catalysts for a variety of other industrial processes, including in the agricultural industry and the manufacture of electronics,” said Max Kudisch, first author of the paper and a postdoctoral researcher at NREL.

“There are some very large-volume chemicals that are produced there where these sorts of methods could be applicable.”

Nickel catalysts promising replacements for palladium catalysts

The team also underlined that nickel catalysts have emerged as promising replacements for palladium catalysts in industrial-scale chemical reactions, as nickel is both more readily available and cheaper.

Nickel has other advantages as its reactivity can be driven by light instead of the high heat required for palladium, resulting in milder overall reaction conditions, which expands the variety of reactions that can be done.

Nickel catalysts can also facilitate reactions that are new and have not been demonstrated with palladium, but key questions regarding how these light-activated nickel catalysts operate have remained unanswered until now, according to researchers.

Nickel costs approximately 50 cents

The price difference between the two elements is vast. An ounce of nickel costs approximately 50 cents, while an ounce of palladium approaches $1,000.

The team pointed out that they experimented with nickel dihalides, compounds where nickel is bonded to two halide ions such as chloride, which are the predominant source of nickel used in these types of reactions. Exposure to light causes a bond between the nickel and chloride to break, which lowers the oxidation state of nickel and suddenly makes it reactive.

But the freed chloride ion, now a chlorine “radical” due to the broken bond, does not sit idly by. In the reaction the team studied, they first hypothesized and then confirmed that it interacts with the solvent. This creates an activated form of the solvent that, in turn, can react with the activated nickel, according to their details.

That turns out to be a crucial and previously unknown step because it forms a stable nickel intermediate that prevents the activated nickel atoms from interacting directly with one another, according to a press release.

“Controlling the amount of the nickel in the lower oxidation state in the reaction is essential to prevent the catalyst from getting deactivated,” Kudisch said.

Multiple tools were used in these experiments, and one of these tools was the Laser Electron Accelerator Facility (LEAF) within Brookhaven Lab’s Chemistry Division, which combines very short pulses of electrons with various spectroscopic detection methods to produce and examine transient molecular and atomic species with high time resolution.

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[crusty old prospector]

Dang, I had just found a cache of palladium.

[Red Badger]

It’s still good for jewelry!............

[MMusson]

So that asteroid has trillions in gold and platinum but we just want the nickel.

[Bringbackthedraft]

Now to get more access to nickle? I seem to recall a good source was Nam, hurry before China gets a foot in the door.

[Red Badger]

[Red Badger]

If a solid gold asteroid the size of a house were to be found and brought to Earth, the price of gold would be depressed significantly.

All the gold ever mined on Earth would fit in a cube 23 meters on a side.............

[ABN 505]

I installed and maintained Endothermic Generators for the Heat Treating industry for many years. The main catalyst for gas production was nickel cubes which had to be replaced on a regular basis otherwise the heat would fuse them together which would cause a major blockage and repair to the highly expensive alloy tube that encased the cubes. Instead of a 2,000 dollar replacement it could cost 12,000 in labor and materials to fix.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Today’s Palladium price: 1,104.00/oz.

https://www.kitco.com/price/precious-metals