An oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) catalyst composition comprising one or more oxides doped with Ag; wherein one or more oxides comprises a single metal oxide, mixtures of single metal oxides, a mixed metal oxide, mixtures of mixed metal oxides, or combinations thereof; and wherein one or more oxides is not La.sub.2O.sub.3 alone. A method of making an OCM catalyst composition comprising calcining one or more oxides and/or oxide precursors to form one or more calcined oxides, wherein the one or more oxides comprises a single metal oxide, mixtures of single metal oxides, a mixed metal oxide, mixtures of mixed metal oxides, or combinations thereof, wherein the one or more oxides is not La.sub.2O.sub.3 alone, and wherein the oxide precursors comprise oxides, nitrates, carbonates, hydroxides, or combinations thereof; doping the one or more calcined oxides with Ag to form the OCM catalyst composition; and thermally treating the OCM catalyst composition.

A promoted VPO catalyst for the oxidation of n-butane to maleic anhydride wherein the catalyst comprises the mixed oxides of vanadium and phosphorus, niobium and at least one of antimony and bismuth, wherein the catalyst may be produced in a process comprising impregnating a VPO catalyst with a metal source compound of niobium and a metal source compound of at least one of antimony and bismuth, to form a metal impregnated VPO catalyst, and then drying the metal impregnated VPO catalyst to form the promoted VPO catalyst.

A multi-catalytic material that includes a polyelectrolyte membrane and methods of preparing the same are provided herein.

A catalytic material including particles formed of a catalytic core material having a thermally resistant porous shell coated over the catalytic core material. An oxygen storage material is dispersed within the thermally resistant porous shell. In an example, the oxygen storage material is ceria. The catalytic material can further include a catalytic support, wherein the particles are deposited on the catalytic support. The catalytic support can be a powdered oxide including a material selected from the group consisting of alumina, silica, zirconia, niobia, ceria, titania, and combinations thereof. The catalytic core can include an element selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Rh, Co, Ni, Mn, Cu, Fe, Au, Ag, and combinations thereof. The porous shell can be selected from materials consisting of alumina, baria, ceria, magnesia, niobia, silica, titania, yttria, and combinations thereof.

Embodiments of present inventions are directed to an advanced catalyst. The advanced catalyst includes a honeycomb structure with an at least one nano-particle on the honeycomb structure. The advanced catalyst used in diesel engines is a two-way catalyst. The advanced catalyst used in gas engines is a three-way catalyst. In both the two-way catalyst and the three-way catalyst, the at least one nano-particle includes nano-active material and nano-support. The nano-support is typically alumina. In the two-way catalyst, the nano-active material is platinum. In the three-way catalyst, the nano-active material is platinum, palladium, rhodium, or an alloy. The alloy is of platinum, palladium, and rhodium.

A gold cluster catalyst is capable of promoting/controlling a chemical reaction with high catalytic activity and selectivity. The gold cluster catalyst has a carrier supporting clusters, each of which is an aggregate of a plurality of gold atoms, which can be obtained by providing the carrier supporting a plurality of gold cluster compounds and then processing the gold cluster compounds on the carrier, in which each of the gold cluster compounds is stabilized by an organic ligand and including a predetermined number of gold atoms. In the gold cluster catalyst, each of the clusters may have a particle diameter of 10 nm or less and be formed substantially only of gold atoms.

In one aspect, the disclosure relates to a method for oxidizing alkanes to produce industrially useful solvents and other compounds. In a further aspect, the method includes the steps of contacting an alkane or mixture of alkanes with a core-shell nanoparticle and an oxidant to produce a mixture and then irradiating the mixture with UV and/or visible light. The methods are selective for desired products and do not produce overoxidized species such as, for example, carbon dioxide. In a still further aspect, the methods are scalable and can be conducted for a short time under relatively mild conditions. In an aspect, the core-shell nanoparticle includes a metal-oxide containing semiconductor core, an amorphous, radiation transparent shell, and optional metal nanoparticle dopants in the shell. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure.

The invention relates to a method for preparing a magnetic mesoporous silica-based (MMS) material, said method comprising the steps of: i) functionalising the silanol (SiOH) groups of a mesoporous silica-based material by covalently grafting a ligand (L) comprising, at at least one end, a zwitterionic group of formula (I), in particular which is capable of complexing superparamagnetic particles: where n is an integer equal to 3 or 4; ii) incorporating superparamagnetic ferrite (MFe.sub.2O.sub.4NP) particles within the mesoporous material, by means of which a magnetic mesoporous silica-based (MMS) material is obtained.

A system for building-specific multi-peril risk assessment and mitigation is disclosed. The system comprises a multi-peril hazard module, a processor, a database and a graphical network module. The multi-peril hazard module is configured to obtain hazard information and create a multi-peril event catalogue configured to generate intensity measures for multiple perils. The processor is configured to derive a peril vulnerability function and determine building-specific risk assessment results based on the hazard information and the peril vulnerability function. The database is configured to store the derived plurality of peril vulnerability functions. The graphical network module is configured to create probabilistic networks, wherein the probabilistic networks are connected to the determined building-specific risk assessment results of the peril vulnerability functions that have strong interdependencies and determine a multi-peril risk associated with the building.

Methods for producing nanostructures from copper-based catalysts on porous substrates, particularly silicon nanowires on carbon-based substrates for use as battery active materials, are provided. Related compositions are also described. In addition, novel methods for production of copper-based catalyst particles are provided. Methods for producing nanostructures from catalyst particles that comprise a gold shell and a core that does not include gold are also provided.