ABSTRACT
Heterogeneous catalysis has been drawing enormous attention because it works towards achieving more environmental benign chemical processes in energy/environmental catalysis and fine chemical synthesis. It has been recognized that a heterogeneous catalyst can efficiently work only in combination with not only its high catalytic performance (i.e. involving the catalytic side) but also its well-organized structures from nano- to macro-scales (i.e. involving the engineering side). Engineering of the nanocomposites by embedding them onto the macro-monolithic substrates is a promising avenue, but remains significantly challenging because the conventional washcoating technique suffers from nonuniformity and exfoliation of coatings, especially for the metal Foam/Fiber structures. This chapter discusses the newly-developed non-dip-coating strategies that can achieve an engineering of metal/oxide and multimetal-oxide nanocomposites at a triple-scales level of both porosity and structure in one-step, including galvanic deposition, wet chemical etching, and hydrothermal methods. These Foam/Fiber-structured catalysts are highly-qualified for strong exo-/endo-thermic and/or high throughput reaction processes, including gas-phase selective oxidation of alcohols, CH4/VOCs combustion, coalbed methane deoxygenation, dimethyl oxalate (DMO) hydrogenation to ethylene glycol, methanation of CO and/or CO2, catalytic oxy-methane reforming to syngas, methanol to light olefins, ethane dehydrogenation, CO coupling to DMO, and F-T synthesis to light olefins.
