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Hydrogen-burning internal combustion engines offer great promise in the fight against climate change because they are powerful without emitting any earth-warming carbon. They can power heavy-duty trucks and buses and are suited for off-road and agricultural equipment and backup power generators, providing cleaner alternatives to diesel engines.

Yet they are not entirely clean. They emit nitrogen oxides during the high-temperature combustion process. Nitrogen oxides react with other compounds in the atmosphere to form harmful ozone and fine particulate matter, which aggravate our lungs and lead to long-term health problems.

Fortunately, UC Riverside scientists have discovered a low-cost method to significantly reduce this pollution from hydrogen engines by improving the efficiency of their catalytic converters.

As reported in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers found that infusing platinum in catalytic converters with a highly porous material called Y zeolites greatly enhances the reactions between nitrogen oxides and hydrogen, converting them into harmless nitrogen gas and water vapor.

Compared to a catalytic converter without zeolites, the amount of nitrogen oxides converted to harmless substances increased by four to five times at an engine temperature of 250 degrees Celsius, the study found. The system was particularly effective at lower temperatures, which is crucial for reducing pollution when engines first start up and are still relatively cool.

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