Scientists Found a Platinum Alternative Hiding in Plain Sight

A low-cost industrial metal just proved it can beat platinum at recycling plastic and powering cleaner chemistry.

Many products people use every day, from plastics to detergents, depend on chemical reactions powered by catalysts made from precious metals such as platinum. While platinum is highly effective, it is also expensive and limited in supply. Scientists have spent years searching for alternatives that are both affordable and sustainable. One strong candidate is tungsten carbide, an Earth-abundant material already widely used in industrial machinery, cutting tools, and chisels.

Despite its promise, tungsten carbide has not been easy to apply in chemical manufacturing. Its unique properties have limited its effectiveness in the past. Recent research led by Marc Porosoff, an associate professor in the University of Rochester’s Department of Chemical and Sustainability Engineering, has now addressed several of these challenges, bringing tungsten carbide closer to serving as a realistic substitute for platinum.

Why Atomic Arrangement Matters

According to Sinhara Perera, a chemical engineering PhD student in Porosoff’s lab, one of the main obstacles lies in the way tungsten carbide atoms are arranged.

Part of what makes tungsten carbide difficult to use as a catalyst, she explains, is that its atoms can organize themselves into many different configurations, known as phases.

“There’s been no clear understanding of the surface structure of tungsten carbide because it’s really difficult to measure the catalytic surface inside the chambers where these chemical reactions take place,” says Perera.

To overcome this limitation, the research team developed a way to control the material’s structure while reactions were actively occurring. In a study published in ACS Catalysis, Porosoff, Perera, and chemical engineering undergraduate student Eva Ciuffetelli ’27 carefully engineered tungsten carbide particles at the nanoscale inside a chemical reactor, where temperatures can exceed 700 degrees Celsius.

Using a method called temperature-programmed carburization, they created tungsten carbide catalysts in specific phases directly inside the reactor. The researchers then carried out chemical reactions and analyzed which versions delivered the best performance.

“Some of the phases are more thermodynamically stable, so that’s where the catalyst inherently wants to end up,” says Porosoff. “But other phases that are less thermodynamically stable are more effective as catalysts.”

Through this process, the team identified a specific phase, β-W2C, that performed especially well in reactions that convert carbon dioxide into essential building blocks for fuels and other valuable chemicals. With further optimization by industry, Porosoff and his colleagues believe this phase could rival platinum while avoiding its high cost and limited availability.

Using Tungsten Carbide to Upcycle Plastic Waste

The researchers also examined how tungsten carbide could help address another major challenge: plastic waste. Porosoff and his collaborators studied its use as a catalyst for plastic upcycling, a process that transforms discarded plastics into higher-quality materials.

In a study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, led by Linxao Chen from the University of North Texas and supported by Porosoff and University of Rochester Assistant Professor Siddharth Deshpande, the team demonstrated how tungsten carbide can drive a chemical process known as hydrocracking.

Hydrocracking breaks large molecules into smaller ones that can be reused to make new products. In this case, the researchers focused on polypropylene, which is commonly used in water bottles and many other plastic items.

Although hydrocracking is widely used in oil and gas refining, applying it to plastic waste has been difficult. Most single-use plastics contain long polymer chains that are extremely stable, and contaminants in waste streams can quickly deactivate traditional catalysts. Platinum-based catalysts also rely on microporous supports that are too small for large polymer chains to access.

“Tungsten carbide, when made with the correct phase, has metallic and acidic properties that are good for breaking down the carbon chains in these polymers,” says Porosoff. “These big bulky polymer chains can interact with the tungsten carbide much easier because they don’t have micropores that cause limitations with typical platinum-based catalysts.”

The results showed that tungsten carbide was not only significantly cheaper than platinum catalysts for hydrocracking, but also more than 10 times as efficient. The researchers say these findings could lead to better catalyst designs and new ways to convert plastic waste into valuable materials, supporting a circular economy.

Measuring Temperature With Greater Precision

Accurate temperature measurement plays a crucial role in developing efficient catalysts. Chemical reactions either absorb heat (endothermic) or release heat (exothermic), and controlling temperature at the catalyst surface allows scientists to coordinate multiple reactions more effectively.

However, traditional temperature measurements rely on bulk readings that average conditions across a reactor. These measurements often fail to capture the precise environment at the catalyst surface, making it difficult to study reactions accurately.

To solve this problem, the research team adopted optical measurement techniques developed in the lab of Andrea Pickel, a visiting professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. They described this new approach in a study published in EES Catalysis.

“We learned from this study that depending on the type of chemistry, the temperature measured with these bulk readings can be off by 10 to 100 degrees Celsius,” says Porosoff. “That’s a really significant difference in catalytic studies where you’re trying to ensure that measurements are reproducible and that multiple reactions can be coupled.”

Using this method, the team studied tandem catalyst systems in which heat released by one reaction is used to drive another reaction that requires heat input. Pairing these reactions more precisely can reduce wasted energy and improve overall efficiency in chemical processes.

Porosoff says this technique could also influence how catalysis research is conducted more broadly, leading to better measurements, stronger reproducibility, and more reliable results across the field.

References:

“Achieving Phase Control of Polymorphic Tungsten Carbide Catalysts” by Sinhara M. H. D. Perera, Eva Ciuffetelli and Marc D. Porosoff, 5 January 2026, ACS Catalysis.
DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.5c07774

“Intrinsically Bifunctional and Tunable Tungsten Carbide Catalysts Enable Efficient PVC-Compatible Polyolefin Hydrocracking” by Uchenna C. Nwachukwu, Matthew J. Moegling, Sinhara M.H.D. Perera, Arsalaan Nisar Pathan, Jun Chen, Fereshteh Rezvani, Aswathi Rajeevan Vannante Valappil, Cong Zhou, Lamisa Rahman, Jian Liu, Sungmin Kim, James M. Eagan, Siddharth Deshpande, Marc D. Porosoff and Linxiao Chen, 17 December 2025, Journal of the American Chemical Society.
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c11845

“Leveraging and understanding exotherms in tandem catalysts with in situ luminescence thermometry” by Sinhara M. H. D. Perera, Benjamin Harrington, Adel Fadhul, Andrea D. Pickel and Marc D. Porosoff, 15 December 2025, EES Catalysis.
DOI: 10.1039/D5EY00319A

The ACS Catalysis study received funding from the Sloan Foundation and the Department of Energy. The Journal of the American Chemical Society research was supported by the National Science Foundation. The EES Catalysis study was funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority through the Carbontech Development Initiative.

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