Colloidal Nanoparticles for Catalytic Application

Abstract

Recent advances of a colloidal chemistry can offer great opportunities to fabricate and design nanoparticle catalysts. Comprehensive understanding of a basic concept and theory of the colloidal synthetic chemistry facilitates to engineer elaborate nano-architectures such as bi- or multi-metallic, heterodimers, and core/shell. This colloidal solution technique not only enables to synthesize high surface mesoporous materials, but also provides a versatile tool to incorporate nanoparticles into mesoporous materials or onto substrates. For the last decades, catalysis research has been pursued to design and fabricate functional nanoparticle catalysts that produce only one desired product (100% selectivity) at high turnover rates to reduce the production of undesirable wastes. Recent studies have shown that several molecular factors such as the surface structures, composition, and oxidation states affect the turnover frequency and reaction selectivity depending on the size, morphology, and composition of metal nanoparticles.