Carbon Nanotubes and Nanofibers in Catalysis

Carbon Materials for Catalysis, Edited by Philippe Serp and Jos6 Luis Figueiredo Copyright 2009 John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

The first pubhshed studies concerning the use of CNTs or CNFs in the field of heterogeneous catalysis date back to 1994 [18,19], and specific activities and selectivities of CNT or CNF-supported catalysts were reported. As a matter of fact, an industrial interest exists in the area of supported catalysts for fluid-phase reactions [20] or for fuel cell electrodes [21]. Since these first reports, numerous studies have brought better knowledge about these carbon nanostructmes and opened the way to their application in catalysis. Besides the study of the specific properties of these materials, special attention has been paid to the design of CNT/CNF supports, to the preparation of metal particles on CNTs or CNFs [22], 

The comprehension of the growth mechanism of CNTs or CNFs is a critical issue, as it contributes to the improvement of manufacturers catalytic processes. It is important to stress the fact that several of the primary steps in the mechanism of CNT/CNF growth by CCVD were proposed some decades ago by scientists interested in the coking of reforming catalysts, and in the way by which it could be possible to avoid such deactivation mechanism [25]. 

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Serp, P, Corrias, M., and Kalck, P. 2003. Carbon nanotubes and nanofibers in catalysis. Applied Catalysis A General 253 337-358. 

P. Serp, M. Corrias, P. Kalck, Carbon nanotubes and nanofibers in catalysis, Appl. Catal. A 253 (2003) 337-358. P.V. Lakshminarayanan, H. Toghiani, C.U. Pittman Jr., Nitric Acid oxidation of vapor grown carbon nanofl-bers. Carbon 42 (2004) 2433-2442. 

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