With all of the technological advances lately, couldn’t a catalytic converter be designed with cheaper materials that aren’t worth stealing?
In: 2057
Replacing the metals in catalytic converters is a lot easier said than done. We use those metals in catalytic converters because of the unique chemistry properties of the platinum group, which has 6 metals in it (ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum). We chemists call this group of metals the noble metals because of they are highly non-reactive, which is a result of their electron configuration. As you may remember, the electron configuration is a large part of what makes an element distinct from the other elements on the periodic table (pedants: yes this is a simplification for ELI5). So, in short, simply choosing a cheaper catalyst isn’t exactly easy (or even necessarily possible).
The noble metals have tons is applications for being a useful catalyst, including in spaceflight! Hydrogen peroxide is used as a single fuel for rockets by flowing it over a noble metal catalyst bed, causing it to spontaneously decay into water and oxygen gas. This reaction propels the rocket without the need for a second oxidizer!
Edit: thanks to u/justonemom14 for pointing out the obvious mistake I made!
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