E-Mail Research teams from Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and the University of Copenhagen have therefore developed an approach that can predict the optimal composition and confirm its accuracy with high-throughput experiments. They report in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition of 28. December 2020. Much less expensive elements than previous catalysts Many electrochemical reactions go through several steps. Each should be optimized on a catalyst surface if possible, but different requirements apply to each step. "Since previous catalysts usually had only one optimized functionality, one could only make the best compromise possible, and energy losses could not be avoided," explains Professor Wolfgang Schuhmann from the Center for Electrochemistry at RUB. With complex solid solutions, several functionalities can be realized simultaneously on one catalyst surface, overcoming this limitation. However, this only happens when at least five different elements are combined. There are millions of possibilities in which percentage ratios the respective elements can be combined. The previous challenge of searching for a strategy to find optimal properties seems to be answerable with this class of materials. Now the task is to find out which combination fulfills the goal in the best possible way. "Incidentally, this may also be possible with much more favorable elements than with previous catalysts," Schuhmann emphasizes.