Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Can you use "somewhat activated" Nickel as a catalyst?

DavidJR - 27-8-2019 at 16:19

I'd guess it would work very slowly. Why not try it?

Sturge11 - 5-9-2019 at 23:28

I believe at the molecular level it is either activated or not, so in this instance you would have X amount of activated nickel and Y amount of un-activated nickel. So long as the un-activated nickel isn't going to disturb anything. Am assuming it wouldn't.

j_sum1 - 5-9-2019 at 23:48

Quote: Originally posted by Sturge11  
I believe at the molecular level it is either activated or not, so in this instance you would have X amount of activated nickel and Y amount of un-activated nickel. So long as the un-activated nickel isn't going to disturb anything. Am assuming it wouldn't.

At the risk of sounding a bit abrasive here, this is crap.
Elemental nickel does not form molecules.
Activation refers to treatment that affords very high surface area that is suited for catalysis. "Somewhat activated" would suggest that the surface area is not as high as is normal for catalysis. It would not suggest that there are two kinds of nickel in the mix.

DavidJR - 6-9-2019 at 01:17

Hmm the original post was deleted.

Loptr - 6-9-2019 at 05:16

I have understood that activation can mean multiple things, usually bound to the context in which it is being used. For aluminum, activation is the removal of an oxide coating with acids or base, or even amalgamation. With zinc, it can be the same. Then there is also finely divided metal powders, that are extremely active because of surface area.

With out seeing the original posts I would assume that a somewhat activated catalyst would contain nickel in multiple forms, such as fines, and granular, or with/without oxide coating, or amalgamation that wasnt complete. The end result is poor catalytic activity, but still some would be present. I believe nickel amalgams are usually produced electrolyticaly, so there would be the potential for incomplete reaction very easily under subpar conditions or time.

[Edited on 6-9-2019 by Loptr]