ABSTRACT

The porous inorganic supports for catalysts provide new opportunities for improving catalytic performance through the confined effect from the void space and the surface multifunctionalities. The design of novel porous catalytic nanoarchitectures for catalysts requires theoretical, synthetic, and analysis innovation on porous materials. Mesoporous nanoparticles have been one of the most studied porous nanostructures as supports for catalysts. The loading capacity, distribution, and fixation of catalytic components into the porous supports are key issues for the construction of porous catalyst systems. Heterogeneous catalysis involves systems in which catalyst and reactants form separate physical phases. Pt-based electrocatalysts have been extensively studied and widely used for the application of fuel cells. By the design of catalytic nanoarchitectures, catalytic activity can be fully exploited under less loading amount of noble metals, and multifunctional, long lasting, high-performance catalysts can become feasible. A general “encapsulation and etching” strategy is developed for the fabrication of nanocatalyst systems in which catalyst nanoparticles are protected within porous shells.