Carbon nanotubes as next generation catalysts for heterogeneous partial oxidation and aldol condensation/ketonization processes.

碳纳米管(CNT)是最著名的纳米材料，其性质引起了科学界的极大关注。这些材料的应用包括从组织工程到平板显示器的广泛领域。在多相催化的特定领域，碳纳米管的使用为特定的化学转化或工业相关的纳米工程催化位置打开了可能性。此外，如果纳米管被用作工业催化配方的唯一成分，它们为可持续的化学转化提供了一种无金属催化技术的前景。目前大多数商用催化剂配方都是基于昂贵的不可再生无机材料，如铂、钯或稀有金属氧化物。就在几年前，使用碳纳米管作为多相催化剂的成本令人望而却步，但改进的碳纳米管合成方法已经将成本推到了与目前基于金属和金属氧化物的催化体系相当甚至更低的水平。碳纳米管作为多相催化剂确实很有吸引力，因为它的中空几何结构和高比表面积(它们类似于一个无缝的中空圆柱体，具有非常大的长径比)。更重要的是，在纳米管壁中引入化学基团可以提供具有工业意义的特定催化转化所需的催化功能，包括从可再生资源生产燃料和精细化学品所需的催化功能。这些催化功能的形态仅取决于纳米管的表面性质和用于纳米管化学功能化的协议。因此，仔细控制碳纳米管壁的化学成分对于开发基于碳纳米管的催化剂至关重要。然而，创建碳纳米管在多相过程中具有优异催化性能所需的化学功能所需的协议尚未实施。拟议的研究计划将执行必要的步骤，以扩大我们开发这一计划的能力，并开发最全面的基于碳纳米管的催化剂。

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are the best known nanomaterials and their properties have attracted a significant attention from the scientific community. Applications of these materials include a wide range of areas, from tissue engineering to flat panel displays. In the specific field of heterogeneous catalysis the use of CNTs opens the possibility of nanoengineering catalytic sites for specific chemical transformations or industrial relevance. Moreover if nanotubes are used as the only component of an industrial catalytic formulation they offer the prospect of a metal free catalysis technology for sustainable chemical transformations. Most of the current commercial catalytic formulations are based on expensive not renewable inorganic materials such as platinum, palladium, or rare metal oxides. While just a few years ago the use of CNTs as heterogeneous catalysts was cost prohibitive, improved CNT synthesis methods have driven costs to levels comparable or even lower to current catalytic systems based on metals and metal oxides. CNTs are indeed rather attractive as heterogeneous catalyst, due to their hollow geometry and high surface area (they resemble a seamless hollow cylinder with very high aspect ratio). More importantly, the introduction of chemical groups into the nanotube walls can provide catalytic functionalities required for specific catalytic transformations of industrial significance, including those needed for the production of fuels and fine-chemicals from renewable resources. The morphology of these catalytic functionalities depends only on the nanotube surface properties and the protocols used for the nantotube chemical functionalization. Hence a careful control of the chemistry of CNT walls is critical for the development of CNT-based catalysts. However, protocols needed to create the chemical functionalities required for superior catalytic performance of CNTs in heterogeneous processes have yet to be implemented. The proposed research program will carry out the necessary steps to extend our ability to develop this scheme and develop the fullest range of CNT-based catalysts.