NANOWIRE CATALYSTS

摘要

Nanowires useful as heterogeneous catalysts are provided. The nanowire catalysts are useful in a variety of catalytic reactions, for example, the oxidative coupling of methane to ethylene. Related methods for use and manufacture of the same are also disclosed. More specifically, a catalyst comprising an inorganic catalytic polycrystalline nanowire, the nanowire having a ratio of effective length to actual length of less than one and an aspect ratio of greater than ten as measured by TEM in bright field mode at 5 keV, wherein the nanowire comprises one or more elements from any of Groups 1 trough 7, lanthanides, actinides or combinations thereof. The preparation of these polycrystalline nanowires involves the use of biological template such as a bacteriophage from the M13 family comprising protein pVIII. Also, an inorganic nanowire comprising one or more metal elements from any of Groups 1 through 7, lanthanides, actinides or combinations thereof and a dopant comprising a metal element, a semi -metal element, a non-metal element or combinations thereof is disclosed and nanowires having core/shell structure are disclosed. Preparation of nanowires in the absence of biological templates is also provided.