Nissan has developed a catalytic converter that uses roughly half the amount of precious metals current models use. The catalytic converter is an exhaust chamber that is filled with a mix of platinum, rhodium and palladium. It captures harmful toxins in a car's exhaust such as nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons by triggering a chemical reaction. Engineers at Nissan developed a technique that prevents the gathering of the precious metals in the catalyst under high temperatures. The result is that less of the metals are needed. The benefit to Nissan is a tremendous cost savings.
Source: Reuters
