Green Chemistry by Nano-Catalysis: Fibrous Morphology Makes the Difference in Catalytic Activity and Stability

Nano-materials are important in many diverse areas including energy and environment. They have also emerged as sustainable alternatives to conventional heterogeneous catalysts. We have recently reported the synthesis of a new class of fibrous nano-silica (KCC-1) based materials.1 Such a fibrous morphology observed in these nanospheres has not been seen before in silica materials. The material exhibits excellent physical properties, including a high surface area, a good thermal, hydrothermal, and mechanical stability. KCC-1 was successfully used for various important catalytic reactions such as hydro-metathesis, hydrogenolysis, solid base catalyzed reactions, C-C coupling reactions and also in CO2 capture, with extraordinary activity and stability.2-6 In this talk, I will present synthesis and applications of this fibrous nano-silica (KCC-1).

References: 
1. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 9652-9656, 
2. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 2747-2751, 
3. ChemSusChem, 2012, 5, 85-89, 
4. ACS Catalysis 2012, 2, 1425-1431, 
5. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 2013, 1, 1192, 
6. Chemical Science, 2012, 3, 2224-2229.