Platinum Metals Review - Volume 30, Issue 1, 1986

The combination of a coal fired magnetohydrodynamic generator and a conventional steam-driven turbo-generator promises greater efficiency, cheaper electricity and lower environmental pollution than conventional power stations. Until recently, the unacceptably short lifetime of the anode electrodes has prevented this promise being fulfilled. Based upon tests described in this paper, it is predicted that the use of platinum-clad electrodes will dramatically increase the expected generator lifetime, thus paving the way to the commercialisation of magnetohydrodynamic energy converters. Approximately 1300 hours of electrode operation has now been achieved and an extrapolation of the results suggests a lifetime of 6000 to 8000 hours.

Recent studies of catalysis by supported metal cluster compounds have shown that these systems exhibit novel behaviour. Although difficult to characterise, by using a combination of analytical techniques an overall picture can be developed of the cluster nuclearity and the number and type of ligands present. Chemisorption and catalytic studies have both shown behaviour fundamentally different from that obtained with conventional metal catalysts.

The preparation of platinum-zirconium alloy catalyst systems is described and their characterisation reveals interesting structures. Studies on a number of catalytic reactions indicate that these alloy systems have catalytic properties significantly different from platinum on zirconia systems. In addition these catalysts do not segregate into platinum and zirconia or zirconium carbide either in air at atmospheric pressure or under conditions used in catalytic processes.

The establishment of regular time-signals and their distribution throughout Britain by means of galvanic telegraphy was largely the outcome of collaboration between G. B. Airy and C. V. Walker, with some assistance from the brothers E. and L. Clark. The early history of this development, and the role which platinum occupied in its successful operation, is traced largely from records preserved in the archives of the Royal Greenwich Observatory at Herstmonceux Castle.