CATALYTIC PROPERTIES

Platinum is, first and foremost, an important metal in industry, and its application there limits its potential in traditional watchmaking

Platinum has many more applications outside watches and jewellery, with the majority of it being used in industry. So anyone who has ever benefited from, or experienced the benefits of, a catalytic converter has actually experienced how platinum makes a difference. How? Well, I’m glad to assume you asked this question because the catalyst in catalytic converters is platinum, typically, so if you have owned a car made after 1975, then you are indeed a person who owns just a little bit of platinum. While electric cars do not require catalytic converters, platinum is still the go-to material in diesel, gasoline and hybrid cars, as well as in the innumerable other types of engines (including electricity generators) as the world struggles to fight pollution from the burning of fossil fuels.

An interesting point we will explore later is the case for rhodium, which is also in the platinum family of metals. This metal shares much of platinum’s characteristics, including its catalytic properties. Rhodium though is extraordinarily expensive, becoming in 2021 the world’s most expensive metal, at more than US$80 per gramme at the most conservative end. At its highest, rhodium was trading for US$744 per gramme. Platinum is thus still the more cost-effective option, and not by a little.