Central Research and Development Activities

The Johnson Matthey Technology Centre (JMTC) is the group’s central resource for longer term research and employs over 180 world class scientists. It supports the research and development of new products and technology across all of Johnson Matthey’s businesses and has expertise in catalysis, precious metals, materials science and many other fields in which Johnson Matthey operates.

JMTC has state of the art facilities and resources for the development and testing of catalysts as well as one of the most advanced analytical science groups in the world, equipped with the latest tools for materials characterisation.

Collaboration is important and JMTC works closely with the group’s global network of business specific technology centres and development groups. It also participates in external collaborative research and development programmes worldwide.

Many projects at JMTC are sponsored by the operating divisions to meet their longer term objectives alongside which run a number of core science projects to address the fundamental science that lies at the heart of many of our businesses. Our core science projects also address sustainability issues such as energy efficiency, waste reduction, resource thrifting and low carbon technology. These projects focus on improving the sustainability performance of our own operations and on developing the next generation of sustainable products and technologies for our customers. Knowledge gained in the core science programmes is used to accelerate and improve product development across the group, reducing time to market and improving our ability to design products to meet customers’ needs.

Materials characterisation is a key component of all our R&D programmes. We have state of the art facilities and unique expertise in house as well as access to some of the world’s most advanced equipment. These techniques provide us with an insight into the structure of materials at an atomic level which gives us the ability to relate the chemical structure of our products to their performance. This provides knowledge and information which is vital to the design and optimisation of new and enhanced products for our customers.

Three examples of how this approach is being used to deliver advanced new catalysts for the Environmental Technologies Division are outlined below.

Fischer Tropsch Chemistry at the Nano Scale
Fischer Tropsch (FT) catalysis is a key step in gas to liquids (GTL) processes and will be a key enabler in the conversion of coal and biomass to liquid fuels. Although FT catalysis was discovered nearly one hundred years ago, 21st century applications will require the design of catalysts with specific functionalities. Johnson Matthey has pioneered the use of advanced characterisation techniques to examine the structure of FT catalysts from micron scale catalyst particles right through to individual atoms at the nano scale.

Using our in house expertise and working in collaboration with world leading academic groups, Johnson Matthey has been able to fully characterise FT catalysts at the nano scale. This detailed understanding is enabling us to assist customers in the design of advanced FT catalyst systems with specific functionalities, tailored to their individual requirements.

Fuel Cell Catalyst Design
In fuel cell catalysts, the specific arrangement of surface and bulk atoms holds the key to optimising catalytic activity and selectivity. Determining the detailed structure of catalyst particles is therefore fundamental to developing the optimum fuel cell catalyst. Johnson Matthey has been working in collaboration with a number of academic partners to study the arrangement of atoms within individual fuel cell catalyst particles. Advanced techniques such as solid state nuclear magnetic resonance and x-ray absorption spectroscopy have been used to provide vital information about the arrangement of atoms and their nearest neighbours. In addition a specially designed fuel cell allows us to characterise catalysts in situ under realistic operating conditions. Scientific knowledge gained from these advanced techniques will enable Johnson Matthey to design and manufacture optimum fuel cell catalysts of the future.

Advanced Characterisation of Autocatalysts
Johnson Matthey’s Emission Control Technologies business manufactures platinum group metal (pgm) containing catalyst systems to remove harmful pollutants from automotive exhausts. Catalysts must perform to meet legislated limits for exhaust emissions but must also have the durability and longevity to operate effectively under the harsh operating conditions of a vehicle.

Understanding how and why these catalysts deactivate over time is key to the manufacture of the next generation of highly active, highly durable products. Deactivation of the catalyst is usually due to a reduction in surface area of the active metal species caused by particle size enlargement. At JMTC we are using our characterisation expertise to examine the sizes of pgm nanoparticles in autocatalysts and the routes by which they intermix over time.

In our laboratories we subject catalysts to accelerated ageing and use a range of advanced techniques to characterise the aged materials. The data obtained enables us to examine and understand how metal particles aggregate over time. This in turn can be related to catalyst performance. Further developing our understanding of the relationship between metal particle aggregation and catalyst ageing enables us to design more effective products for our customers.

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