Uses Of Palladium
Palladium is the 46th chemical element on the periodic table, represented by the chemical symbol Pd. It is a shiny silver metal, which is often found in an alloy with gold or platinum. The most common commercial source of the metal is in nickel-copper deposits. Over 200 tonnes is produced each year for the various important applications of this metal.
Uses Of Palladium
The vast majority of palladium is used as a oxidation catalyst in catalytic converters, which is a device that converts harmful exhaust gases from a vehicle into less harmful products. Palladium is also used as a catalyst in organic chemistry for speeding up a variety of different reactions.
Palladium is also used in electronic devices in a specific type of capacitor, where palladium-silver alloys are used as electrodes. In addition to this palladium may also be used in consumer electronics as connector plating. It may also be used in soldering and electroplating electronic components.
Palladium is also used in the purification of hydrogen to produce a high purity gas. It is being studied as a potential way to store the volatile gas.
It is also used in carbon monoxide detectors and can be used for removing mercury from industrial gas.
Palladium is also important to the jewelry industry where it is used as a precious metal. It is most commonly used as an alternative to platinum when making white gold.
Palladium salts have been used in the photographic industry to produce fine-art black-and-white prints.
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