The man who set in motion the development of cleaner car exhaust emissions was recently recognized for his pioneering research on surface chemistry.

German physicist Gerhard Ertl established the catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide over palladium, a complex chemical reaction that occurs in the catalyst of cars for cleaner exhaust gas emissions. He found that carbon monoxide, a harmful gas generated by engines of vehicles can be converted into less toxic carbon dioxide by collisions in the air with oxygen molecules. Hence, this led to the creation of the catalytic converter, which now comes as standard equipment on every car around the world.

Ertl was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Chemistry last October 10 for his research that unraveled the mysteries behind the pollution’s role in the thinning ozone layer.

The award recognized Ertl’s meticulous description on how chemical reactions occur on solid surfaces. “Surface chemistry can even explain the destruction of the ozone layer, as vital steps in the reaction actually take place on the surfaces of small crystals of ice in the stratosphere,” according to the award citation.

In an interview with Nobelprize.org after the announcement of awardees, Ertl explained the short-term benefits of his studies on surface chemistry. “The work that we were doing was related to heterogeneous catalysis and this is a topic which is of great industrial importance, but also of environmental importance,” Ertl said. “Think of the car exhaust catalyst, or of all these industrial processes. So, as soon as you understand something better then you can also think of improving it. I think that’s the main message you can learn from it.”

Ertl, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, built the foundation of modern surface chemistry. One of the most groundbreaking discoveries he made was the role of catalytic converters in clean emissions. The other areas his studies explored on were: the development of cleaner sources of energy, how fuel cells create energy without causing pollution, and why iron undergoes corrosion, CNN reported.

The so-called “ozone layer scientist” won the award on his 71^st birthday. Despite his huge contributions to science, the Nobel Prize awardee has nothing much to say. “I am speechless. I was not counting on this,” Ertl said in an interview with The Associated Press from his office in Berlin.

Ertl currently teaches at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin, where he is an emeritus professor. Born in Bad Cannstadt, Germany, Ertl earned his doctorate degree in physical chemistry from Technische Universität München in 1965.

Sources: CNN, Nobelprize.org, Science Daily, Thestar.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 10:00 pm and is filed under History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.