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Title: WTEC Panel Report on Internaitonal Assessment of Research and Development in Catalysis by Nanostructured Materials

Abstract

This WTEC panel report assesses the international research and development activities in the field of catalysis by nanostructured materials. Catalysis is important for a wide variety of processes that impact manufacturing, energy conversion, and environmental protection. This study focused specifically on solid catalysts and how nanoscale structures associated with them affect their reactivity. The principal technical areas of the study are (a) design and control of synthetic nanostructures; (b) nanoscale characterization of catalysts in their working state; (c) theory and simulation; and (d) applications. The panel visited over 40 institutions and companies throughout East Asia and Western Europe to explore the active research projects in those institutions, the physical infrastructure used for the projects, the funding schemes that enable the research, and the collaborative interactions among universities, national laboratories, and corporate research centers. A bibliometric analysis of research in catalysis by nanostructured materials published from 1996 to 2005 was conducted as part of this WTEC study. The total number of published papers as well as the expected total number of citations of those papers revealed a growing focus on this subject. Western Europe was the numerical output leader in the world; U.S. output, while published in high-impact journals, was relativelymore » stagnant, and the number of published papers originating from China was growing exponentially and expected to exceed that from the United States in the latter half of this decade. China's rapidly expanding economy together with its growth in large-scale chemical and refining plants motivate its significant commitment to catalysis research. The panel found that cooperation between universities and companies in catalysis R&D is common in Europe and Asia, presumably because of a more favorable intellectual property environment outside of the United States. In the area of catalyst synthesis, there is substantial activity to develop microporous materials with controlled mesoporosity and to prepare nanosized particles with preferentially exposed crystal planes. Recent advances in spectroscopy and microscopy allow the nanostructures of catalyst particles to be examined under more realistic environmental conditions approaching those of industrial reactions. Electronic structure methods and molecular simulations are now considered to be necessary tools for use alongside experiments to help guide catalysis research. The applications of much of the research observed by the panel are directly related to energy and the environment.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [5];  [6];  [7]
  1. Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Cincinnati, OH (United States)
  3. Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States)
  4. Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)
  5. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  6. Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
  7. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
World Technology Evaluation Center, Inc., Baltimore, MD (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1122411
Report Number(s):
DOE-WTEC-15988
DOE Contract Number:  
FG02-08ER15988
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY

Citation Formats

Davis, Robert J., Guilants, Vadim V., Huber, George, Lobo, Raul F., Neurock, Matthew, Miller, Jeffrey T., Sharma, Renu, and Thompson, Levi. WTEC Panel Report on Internaitonal Assessment of Research and Development in Catalysis by Nanostructured Materials. United States: N. p., 2009. Web.
Davis, Robert J., Guilants, Vadim V., Huber, George, Lobo, Raul F., Neurock, Matthew, Miller, Jeffrey T., Sharma, Renu, & Thompson, Levi. WTEC Panel Report on Internaitonal Assessment of Research and Development in Catalysis by Nanostructured Materials. United States.
Davis, Robert J., Guilants, Vadim V., Huber, George, Lobo, Raul F., Neurock, Matthew, Miller, Jeffrey T., Sharma, Renu, and Thompson, Levi. 2009. "WTEC Panel Report on Internaitonal Assessment of Research and Development in Catalysis by Nanostructured Materials". United States.
@article{osti_1122411,
title = {WTEC Panel Report on Internaitonal Assessment of Research and Development in Catalysis by Nanostructured Materials},
author = {Davis, Robert J. and Guilants, Vadim V. and Huber, George and Lobo, Raul F. and Neurock, Matthew and Miller, Jeffrey T. and Sharma, Renu and Thompson, Levi},
abstractNote = {This WTEC panel report assesses the international research and development activities in the field of catalysis by nanostructured materials. Catalysis is important for a wide variety of processes that impact manufacturing, energy conversion, and environmental protection. This study focused specifically on solid catalysts and how nanoscale structures associated with them affect their reactivity. The principal technical areas of the study are (a) design and control of synthetic nanostructures; (b) nanoscale characterization of catalysts in their working state; (c) theory and simulation; and (d) applications. The panel visited over 40 institutions and companies throughout East Asia and Western Europe to explore the active research projects in those institutions, the physical infrastructure used for the projects, the funding schemes that enable the research, and the collaborative interactions among universities, national laboratories, and corporate research centers. A bibliometric analysis of research in catalysis by nanostructured materials published from 1996 to 2005 was conducted as part of this WTEC study. The total number of published papers as well as the expected total number of citations of those papers revealed a growing focus on this subject. Western Europe was the numerical output leader in the world; U.S. output, while published in high-impact journals, was relatively stagnant, and the number of published papers originating from China was growing exponentially and expected to exceed that from the United States in the latter half of this decade. China's rapidly expanding economy together with its growth in large-scale chemical and refining plants motivate its significant commitment to catalysis research. The panel found that cooperation between universities and companies in catalysis R&D is common in Europe and Asia, presumably because of a more favorable intellectual property environment outside of the United States. In the area of catalyst synthesis, there is substantial activity to develop microporous materials with controlled mesoporosity and to prepare nanosized particles with preferentially exposed crystal planes. Recent advances in spectroscopy and microscopy allow the nanostructures of catalyst particles to be examined under more realistic environmental conditions approaching those of industrial reactions. Electronic structure methods and molecular simulations are now considered to be necessary tools for use alongside experiments to help guide catalysis research. The applications of much of the research observed by the panel are directly related to energy and the environment.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1122411}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2009},
month = {Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2009}
}

Technical Report:
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