“…Catalyst design is usually based on noble metals or on transition metal oxides, the latter being attractive due to their lower price. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that efficient VOCs combustion catalysts can be developed from clay minerals of anionic and/or cationic character (e.g., [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]). Recently, we proposed a novel strategy for preparing VOCs combustion catalysts, in which the catalytically active Mn-Al oxide nanoparticles, obtained from hydrotalcite (Ht) precursor synthesized by an inverse microemulsion method, are trapped between randomly oriented layers of smectite (Laponite) [ 19 ].…”