Untapped catalytic ability of aluminium has been unlocked
Aluminium is known for being lightweight, physically robust and resistant to corrosion, enabling it to be used in applications ranging from drink cans to steel alloys. But, writing in Nature, Zhang and Liu1 show that there is more to this metal than meets the eye. They report the first example of an aluminium catalyst in which the metal readily switches between oxidation states — raising the possibility that aluminium could be a low-cost replacement for expensive transition metals in many important catalytic applications.
The authors declare no competing interests.
