A graphene-based catalytic condenser makes abundant materials act like precious metals

A team of researchers from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and University of California, Santa Barbara have invented a graphene-based device that electronically converts one metal into behaving like another to use as a catalyst for speeding chemical reactions.

The fabricated device, called a “catalytic condenser,” is the first to demonstrate that alternative materials that are electronically modified to provide new properties can yield faster, more efficient chemical processing.