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。这些材料的应用范围很广，从组织工程到平板显示器。在多相催化的特定领域，碳纳米管的使用为特定化学转化或工业相关的纳米工程催化位点开辟了可能性。此外，如果纳米管被用作工业催化配方的唯一组成部分，它们为可持续化学转化的无金属催化技术提供了前景。目前大多数商业化的催化配方都是基于昂贵的不可再生的无机材料，如铂、钯或稀有金属氧化物。就在几年前，使用碳纳米管作为非均相催化剂的成本令人难以接受，但改进的碳纳米管合成方法已经将成本降低到与当前基于金属和金属氧化物的催化系统相当甚至更低的水平。CNTs作为多相催化剂确实非常有吸引力，因为它们具有中空的几何形状和高表面积（它们类似于具有非常高宽高比的无缝中空圆柱体）。更重要的是，将化学基团引入纳米管壁可以为具有工业意义的特定催化转化提供所需的催化功能，包括从可再生资源中生产燃料和精细化学品所需的催化转化。这些催化官能的形态仅取决于纳米管的表面性质和用于纳米管化学官能化的方案。因此，仔细控制碳纳米管壁的化学性质对于碳纳米管催化剂的开发至关重要。然而，在非均相过程中创造CNTs优越催化性能所需的化学功能所需的协议尚未实现。拟议的研究计划将采取必要的步骤，以扩大我们开发该方案的能力，并开发最全面的碳纳米管基催化剂。

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.