Collaboration Reveals How Light Unlocks Chemistry of Nickel Catalyst - CleanTechnica

A collaborative team of scientists from multiple U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories, led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), has uncovered how light activates nickel-based catalysts to drive chemical reactions while preserving their reactivity. Published in Nature Communications, the research reveals that exposure to light breaks a bond in nickel dihalide catalysts, lowering nickel’s oxidation state and making it reactive. Crucially, the freed halide ion (chlorine radical) interacts with the solvent to form a previously unknown, stable nickel intermediate. This intermediate prevents the reactive nickel atoms from binding to each other and deactivating, thereby maintaining the catalyst’s activity. This discovery advances understanding of light-driven nickel catalysis, which offers advantages over traditional palladium catalysts, including lower cost, milder reaction conditions, and the ability to facilitate novel chemical transformations. Nickel is significantly cheaper than palladium—about 50 cents per ounce versus nearly $1,000 per ounce for palladium—and can be activated by light rather than heat