Nanoparticle Metal Oxides for Chlorocarbon and Organophosphonate Remediation

Abstract

The nanotechnology revolution has affected many areas of science, including chemistry and chemical engineering. Although nanotechnology advances in electronics or in the manufacturing of nanomachines are rather recent developments, nanoscale chemical structures are much older. Materials known and widely used over the past several decades, such as high-surface-area carbons, porous inorganic metal oxides, and highly dispersed supported catalysts, all fall into the category of nanostructures. Although a few decades-old publications describing these materials rarely used the word “nano”, they deserve proper credit for providing the foundation for current advances in nanochemistry. Since approximately the 1970s, enormous advances in the synthesis, characterization, and understanding of high-surface-area materials have taken place and this period can be justifiably described as the nanoscale revolution. The development and commercial use of methods like sol-gel synthesis, chemical vapor deposition, and laser-induced sputtering allowed for the manufacturing of countless new nanomaterials both at laboratory and commercial scales. Traditional chemical manufacturing methods, used in catalyst synthesis or in the production of porous sorbents, were gradually improved by systematic development of methodologies, as well as quality control measures. In addition, the characterization of nanostructures was revolutionized by the availability of new instruments. Various