Palladium is also used to make jewellery although it’s not as popular as platinum. Palladium’s unique quality is its ability to absorb hydrogen, which has applications in chemical processes that require hydrogen exchange between two reactants, such as that which produces the raw materials for synthetic rubber and nylon. Palladium is chemically stable and like platinum has excellent catalytic properties so it can be used as a substitute for the more expensive platinum in catalytic converters.