{"id":10569,"date":"2017-12-01T07:46:27","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T12:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=10569"},"modified":"2017-11-30T12:45:48","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T17:45:48","slug":"a-gilded-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/","title":{"rendered":"A Gilded Future?"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"Sarcophagus\"<\/a>
Image: Jaroslav Moravcik \/ Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Johns Hopkins Engineering researchers are borrowing from the ancient Egyptian tradition of gilding to make fuel cells and other renewable energy technologies cheaper, better, and more sustainable.<\/p>\n

Egyptians around the time of King Tutankhamun often covered cheaper metals (copper, for example) with precious metals such as gold to create extravagant masks and jewelry. In this modern-day twist, chemical and biomolecular engineer Chao Wang<\/a> and his colleagues grew a platinum shell just one nanometer thick\u2014100,000 times smaller than a human hair\u2014on cobalt nanoparticles, producing a more sustainable electrocatalyst.<\/p>\n

Cobalt is much more abundant and therefore cheaper than platinum, a rare and expensive metal widely used as a catalyst to accelerate chemical reactions. The innovation could bring clean energy\u2014electric vehicles, for example\u2014into reach for many more consumers through lowered costs, note the researchers, who recently published their work in Nano Letters<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis technique could launch us out of the fossil fuel era,\u201d says Wang, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and senior author of the study. \u201cIt will not only reduce the cost of fuel cells but also improve their performance, enabling clean electric vehicles powered by hydrogen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lead author and postdoctoral fellow Lei Wang notes that platinum, also frequently used in jewelry, is a critical material in modern industry. It catalyzes reactions essential in activities ranging from petroleum processing and petrochemical synthesis to emission control in combustion vehicles, as well as in fuel cells. But platinum\u2019s high cost and limited availability have made such clean energy technologies largely impractical\u2014until now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more cobalt out there than platinum,\u201d Lei Wang says. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to significantly stretch the benefits of platinum by coating it over cobalt, and we even managed to enhance its performance at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, the team is working on generalizing the technique to other precious metals and nonprecious substrates. New developments will target further applications of such materials in chemical conversions of hydrocarbons.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny reaction that depends on precious metal catalysts could be rendered cheaper and more effective by taking advantage of our technology,\u201d Chao Wang says. \u201cAt a time when we are becoming painfully aware of the limits of our nonrenewable sources of energy, this technique points us in a very welcome new direction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Johns Hopkins Engineering researchers are borrowing from the ancient Egyptian tradition of gilding to make fuel cells and other renewable energy technologies cheaper, better, and more sustainable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[2107,2415,2419,2423,2427,2431,2435,2439],"class_list":["post-10569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-impact","tag-chemical-and-biomolecular-engineering","tag-chao-wang","tag-fuel-cells","tag-lei-wang","tag-platinum","tag-cobalt","tag-catalysts","tag-electrocatalysts","issue-winter-2018"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Gilded Future? - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Gilded Future? - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Johns Hopkins Engineering researchers are borrowing from the ancient Egyptian tradition of gilding to make fuel cells and other renewable energy technologies cheaper, better, and more sustainable.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-01T12:46:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Gilded-Future_THUMB.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/a-gilded-future\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/a-gilded-future\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abby Lattes\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\"},\"headline\":\"A Gilded Future?\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-01T12:46:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/a-gilded-future\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":394,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/a-gilded-future\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/Gilded-Future_THUMB.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering\",\"Chao Wang\",\"Fuel Cells\",\"Lei Wang\",\"Platinum\",\"Cobalt\",\"Catalysts\",\"Electrocatalysts\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Impact\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/a-gilded-future\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/a-gilded-future\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/a-gilded-future\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Gilded Future? - JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/a-gilded-future\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/a-gilded-future\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/Gilded-Future_THUMB.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-01T12:46:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/a-gilded-future\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/a-gilded-future\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/a-gilded-future\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/Gilded-Future_THUMB.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/Gilded-Future_THUMB.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"Sarcophagus\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/a-gilded-future\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Gilded Future?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\",\"name\":\"JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\",\"name\":\"Abby Lattes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Abby Lattes\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Gilded Future? - JHU Engineering Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Gilded Future? - JHU Engineering Magazine","og_description":"Johns Hopkins Engineering researchers are borrowing from the ancient Egyptian tradition of gilding to make fuel cells and other renewable energy technologies cheaper, better, and more sustainable.","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/","og_site_name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","article_published_time":"2017-12-01T12:46:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Gilded-Future_THUMB.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Abby Lattes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abby Lattes","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/"},"author":{"name":"Abby Lattes","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742"},"headline":"A Gilded Future?","datePublished":"2017-12-01T12:46:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/"},"wordCount":394,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Gilded-Future_THUMB.jpg","keywords":["Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering","Chao Wang","Fuel Cells","Lei Wang","Platinum","Cobalt","Catalysts","Electrocatalysts"],"articleSection":["Impact"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/","name":"A Gilded Future? - JHU Engineering Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Gilded-Future_THUMB.jpg","datePublished":"2017-12-01T12:46:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Gilded-Future_THUMB.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Gilded-Future_THUMB.jpg","width":300,"height":200,"caption":"Sarcophagus"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/12\/a-gilded-future\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Gilded Future?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/","name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742","name":"Abby Lattes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","caption":"Abby Lattes"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10575,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10569\/revisions\/10575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}