Enter the Tubes: Carbon Nanotube Endohedral Catalysis

Abstract

The unique morphological characteristics of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) present the intriguing opportunity of exploiting the inner cavity for carrying out chemical reactions. Such reactions are catalysed either by the individual tubes that function both as catalysts and nanoreactors or by additional catalytic species that are confined within the channel. Such confinement creates what is called “confinement effect”, which can result in different catalytic features affecting activity, stability and selectivity. The review highlights the recent major advancements of catalysis conducted within the CNTs, starting from the synthesis of the catalytic composite, and discussing the most notable catalytic processes that have been reported in the last decade.

Effect of Ni Metal Content on Emulsifying Properties of Ni/CNTox Catalysts for Catalytic Conversion of Furfural in Pickering Emulsions

“…Furthermore, the following oxidation step may have partially opened the ends of the nanotubes, which can be a possible explanation of the peak observed at lower reduction temperatures. This agrees well with results published by Iglesias et al [74] …”

“…[65,73] Furthermore, the following oxidation step may have partially opened the ends of the nanotubes, which can be a possible explanation of the peak observed at lower reduction temperatures. This agrees well with results published by Iglesias et al [74] . Moreover, it can be observed that an increased Ni content produces a shift of the reduction peak of NiO located at 290°C to lower reduction temperature.…”

Carbonaceous Nanomaterials Employed in the Development of Electrochemical Sensors Based on Screen-Printing Technique—A Review

“…The covalent and noncovalent functionalizations are called exohedric functionalizations. The endohedric functionalization of CNTs happens when atoms and small molecules are found inside the CNTs [187,188].…”

Metal Chalcogenides Based Heterojunctions and Novel Nanostructures for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

“…Tubular structures with tunable monodisperse diameters in the nanometer scale are attracting a lot of attention in nanosciences lately. In recent years, nanotubes have been recognized as an ideal 1D nano-platform appealing for applications to be potential catalytic nanoreactors for energy conversion application [60][61][62]. In parallel, synthesis of 2D and 3D nanostructures with permanent polarization has shown interesting activities due to their capacities of generation and separation of charge carriers (e − /h + ) [63], resulting in a new type of photoactive material [64].…”