Nornickel opens the world’s first palladium laboratory in Moscow

Located in Moscow's Lomonosov cluster, the facility covers the full R&D cycle for new technological products: from hypothesis and synthesis to deep instrumental analytics and material testing. This approach accelerates the time-to-market for new developments and helps train AI models for new inorganic materials and alloys.

For Nornickel, this is a strategic move to control where and how palladium is used. Currently, the automotive industry drives 80% of global palladium demand by using it in exhaust catalysts. The new laboratory aims to apply palladium's unique catalytic and physical properties to renewable energy and microelectronics, making these technologies cheaper and more efficient.

The laboratory is an anchor project of Nornickel's Palladium Center, which already manages around 30 active projects across various industries. In electrochemistry, the Center has developed palladium anodes that are 20% more energy-efficient and 15% cheaper than traditional ones. In solar energy, adding palladium to perovskite cells boosts their efficiency by 15%, while in microelectronics, the metal is used to replace expensive gold.

Investments in the laboratory's first phase are part of the Center's $100 million overall budget. Launched in 2023, the Center underpins Nornickel's strategic business vision, and having an in-house facility highlights the company's deep commitment to research and development.

The laboratory is also vital for advancing industrial AI. It will serve as a core tool to build databases for training algorithms that design new materials with specific properties. Nornickel is building a proprietary digital materials science platform. Eventually, the process will be automated: AI will independently set research directions and design optimal experimental plans.

"This is the world's first laboratory entirely dedicated to new palladium materials," says Dmitry Izotov, Head of the Palladium Center. "Our equipment allows us to explore the metal's benefits across all material classes and concentrations. Our goal is to create 100 new products for various industries. The laboratory's setup helps us understand elemental interactions at a fundamental level, train advanced AI models, and rapidly develop superior materials."

The laboratory will actively collaborate with leading Russian technical universities and provide hands-on training for materials science students.

Launching the project at the Lomonosov cluster was a deliberate choice. The cluster currently hosts 78 companies and over 2,000 scientists, fostering an independent environment for knowledge sharing and technological partnerships.

"The Lomonosov cluster was built to foster effective cooperation between science and business, providing market leaders with a multifunctional infrastructure for breakthrough discoveries," notes Alexey Parabuchev, CEO of the Moscow Innovation Cluster Foundation. "Residents enjoy access to modern labs, co-working areas, and unique testing spaces. I am confident this cluster will help Nornickel's scientists expand their R&D capabilities and accelerate the commercialization of new palladium-based materials."