In addition to iron, Dr. Chiriks lab also works with cobalt, which sits beside iron on the periodic table. Using cobalt, Dr. Chirik said, the scientists have generated a whole new reaction that no one has ever seen before. It produces new types of plastics using very inexpensive starting materials.
But the price of cobalt has shot up since the lab first began its research, thanks to the elements use in the flat batteries that power gadgets like iPads and iPhones.
The iPad has completely changed the price of cobalt, Dr. Chirik said, so something that once was garbage is now valuable.
While the rising cost may undermine the economic incentive to use Dr. Chiriks cobalt-fueled materials, it seems to perfectly underscore his basic point about the need for flexibility.
Theres a broad appeal and logic to focusing on more abundant elements in designing catalysts, said Roderick Eggert, a professor of economics and business at the Colorado School of Mines.
A vast majority of the chemicals we manufacture and then use to make other products require catalysts. And a lot of catalysts use so-called noble metals like platinum, palladium and rhodium, which are expensive. A pound of platinum costs about $22,000. A pound of iron, meanwhile, costs about 50 cents.
As an undergraduate chemistry major, Dr. Chirik worked on reactions that used iridium as a catalyst. A pound of iridium costs about $16,000. Dr. Chiriks boss kept the iridium-based compound locked in a desk drawer.
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