Catalysts are used in lowering the
activation energy of a reaction, and thus increasing the resultant rate of the reaction. Catalysts
can be split broadly into 2 main forms, heterogeneous catalysts as well as homogeneous catalysts. Heterogeneous catalysts are predominantly solids (metals)
which catalyzes reactions taking place in a gas/liquid phase.
They are prized in the industry for applications such as hydrogenation of alkenes, long carbon chain breaking and are consequentially famous as well in the scientific field, where research is intensive. Examples of reactions catalyzed by heterogeneous catalysts include the Nobel-prize winning organic reactions, the Suzuki Coupling, catalyzed by palladium.
They are prized in the industry for applications such as hydrogenation of alkenes, long carbon chain breaking and are consequentially famous as well in the scientific field, where research is intensive. Examples of reactions catalyzed by heterogeneous catalysts include the Nobel-prize winning organic reactions, the Suzuki Coupling, catalyzed by palladium.
A major drawback of such heterogeneous
catalysts is that they are only functional on the interface between the solid
bulk of the catalyst and the gas/liquid phase; essentially, the catalytic
properties of many of these metal heterogeneous catalysts are limited to their
surface. In addition, many of the sought after catalysts are exorbitant (palladium:
USD25/g and platinum: USD 50/g).
The field of nanotechnology provides a
solution to this problem: nanocatalysts. Nanocatalysts, being in the scale of a
few nanometers, would have a significantly greater surface area: volume ratio,
thus increasing the catalytic surfaces for reaction to occur.
However, more interestingly, upon entering
the world of “Nano” many metals begin to exhibit different unexpected
properties which scientists are now trying to harness to maximize their
catalytic properties...
