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。在非均相催化的特定领域中，CNT的使用为特定化学转化或工业相关性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制剂的唯一组分，则它们提供了用于可持续化学转化的无金属催化技术的前景。目前大多数商业催化制剂基于昂贵的不可再生的无机材料，例如铂、钯或稀有金属氧化物。虽然仅仅几年前使用CNT作为非均相催化剂是成本过高的，但是改进的CNT合成方法已经将成本驱动到与基于金属和金属氧化物的当前催化体系相当或甚至更低的水平。CNT作为非均相催化剂确实相当有吸引力，这是由于它们的中空几何形状和高表面积（它们类似于具有非常高的纵横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表面性质和用于纳米管化学功能化的协议。因此，仔细控制CNT壁的化学性质对于CNT基催化剂的开发至关重要。然而，在非均相工艺中产生CNT的上级催化性能所需的化学功能所需的方案尚未实施。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CNT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.