Design of catalytic sites at oxide surfaces by metal-complex attaching and molecular imprinting techniques

Abstract

This paper attempts to summarize our recent studies on the chemical design and characterization of catalytic sites at oxide surfaces such as Nb monomer, dimer and monolayer on SiO 2, Rh dimers on SiO 2, TiO 2, Al 2O 3, and MgO, and Au nanoparticles on TiO 2(1 1 0), prepared by using suitable metal-complex precursors in a molecular scale. The paper also reports performances of new molecular imprinting catalysts, SiO 2 overlayers/α-Al 2O 3 and Rh–SiO 2 overlayers/SiO 2, designed by surface molecular imprinting techniques.