Introduction Direct methanol fuel cells are very important as a clean, low cost and portable power source because of several environmental problems in traditional energy producing systems. Compared to the hydrogen fueled PEMFCs, direct methanol PEMFCs are more compact and can be used in power portable electric devices. Platinum is the most active electro-catalyst for the electro-oxidation of me...

New porous materials such as zeolites, metal-organic frameworks and mesostructured oxides are of immense practical utility for gas storage, separations and heterogeneous catalysis. Their extended pore structures enable selective uptake of molecules or can modify the product selectivity (regioselectivity or enantioselectivity) of catalyst sites contained within. However, diffusion within pores c...

Fuel cell is a promising choice for clean energy because of its eco-friendly system, high energy conversion efficiency and high power density. Recently, much of the research work is focused on the system of combining metal oxides to increase the durability and surface area and to reduce the cost. In this study, among the various fabrication methods, we used the precipitation method to synthesis...

Since the introduction in I974 of catalytic converters for automotive emission control i n the United States significant advances have been made in the design of durable monolith supported catalysts for the control of carbon monoxide, unburnt hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions. However, high temperature durability, has been a significant problem, particularly of three-way catalysts. Johns...

The study of the adsorption and growth of metals on ceramics is a rapidly growing area, as these interactions are key to understanding many materials and processes used in modern technology. In particular, oxide-supported catalysts have been extensively studied, due to their widespread industrial applications. Knowledge of the role played by the underlying metal oxide in the reactivity of the m...

Pulse laser ablation and subsequent laser nanostructuring at room temperature has been employed to produce nanostructured Ni on SiO2 /Si substrates for catalytic growth of carbon nanotubes. The resultant nanostructured surface is seen to consist of nanometer sized hemispherical droplets whose mean diameter is controlled by the initial metal thickness, which in turn is readily controlled by the ...

A main obstacle in the rational development of heterogeneous catalysts is the difficulty in identifying active sites. Here we show metal/oxide interfacial sites are highly active for the oxidation of benzyl alcohol and other industrially important primary alcohols on a range of metals and oxides combinations. Scanning tunnelling microscopy together with density functional theory calculations on...

The aim of this study was to obtain nanocrystalline mixed metal-oxide-ZrO₂ catalysts via a sonochemically-induced preparation method. The effect of a stabiliser's addition on the catalyst parameters was investigated by several characterisation methods including X-ray Diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispers...

The development of metal oxide-based molecular wires is important for fundamental research and potential practical applications. However, examples of these materials are rare. Here we report an all-inorganic transition metal oxide molecular wire prepared by disassembly of larger crystals. The wires are comprised of molybdenum(VI) with either tellurium(IV) or selenium(IV): {(NH4)2[XMo6O21]}n (X=...

A comparison is made between SnO(2), ZnO, and TiO(2) single-crystal nanowires and SnO(2) polycrystalline nanofibers for gas sensing. Both nanostructures possess a one-dimensional morphology. Different synthesis methods are used to produce these materials: thermal evaporation-condensation (TEC), controlled oxidation, and electrospinning. Advantages and limitations of each technique are listed. P...