Nanocrystalline materials in catalysis and electrocatalysis: Structure tailoring and surface reactivity

The last few years have seen a growing interest in the study of materials based on crystals having an average size on the nanometer range. In many aspects these materials (and their understanding) could be at the basis of a revolutionary development in the field of catalysis and electrocatalysis. One reason for these improved or new properties relates to the large number of atoms placed at the surface of crystals which imply an increased number of active sites. Also, the large number of grain boundaries result in an enhanced reaction kinetics. Finally, what is fundamental is that these new nanostructured materials offer the possibilities to design crystalline surface nearly on an atomic scale. It is then possible to tailor a specific microstructure for catalytic materials to achieve improvements on a given catalytic process. Examples of new nanocrystalline catalytic and electrocatalytic materials are presented in this paper to demonstrate their impressive potential.