Themed collection Carbon for Catalysis

Niobium oxide dispersed on high-surface-area graphite was evaluated for 1-butanol dehydration. The synthesis method governs Nb dispersion, structure and stability: deposition–precipitation yields highly selective (≥90% C4 olefins), stable catalysts.

The pretreatment of carbon support in Pd catalysts has a marked effect on final performance in the solvent free oxidation of benzyl alcohol, due to the introduction of oxygen functionality and subsequent increased dispersion of active metal.

Bamboo activated carbon in bed-packed column flow system.

Different activation methods were applied to rice husk biochar from slow pyrolysis for use as sustainable catalyst support. Results show activation method greatly affects performance, with KOH activation yielding especially strong results.

HERFD-XANES, VtC-XES and electroanalysis reveal how Fe coordination dictates CO₂ reactivity, guiding catalyst design. N-coordinated Fe–OH on N-doped graphene activates CO₂ to form bicarbonates, unlike FeTCPP, where direct Fe–CO₂ coordination occurs.

Monolithic wood-based carbon supported Pd nanoparticles with tunable exposure achieving semi-hydrogenation of alkynols to enols with high activity and stability.

Adjusting the surface functionalization of the carbon support allows controlling the capping ligand spillover and consequently the surface Pd⁽⁰⁾/Pd²⁺ ratio, which in turn impacts the catalyst performances.

Cs promotion of graphite Ni catalysts boosts the selective conversion of CO₂ to CO, while Ba promotes the methanation process.

Parthenium hysterophorus-derived molecularly engineered carbon nanostructures demonstrating high sensitivity and selectivity in the electrochemical sensing of lead(II) ions.

Decreasing the carbon shell thickness increased the reducibility of Co₃O₄. The reducibility of Co₃O₄ was further achieved by adding an Os promoter outside of the sphere showing that H spillover was favoured over H₂ diffusion/Co reduction by carbon.