Disclosed are novel supported nanoparticle compositions, precursors, processes for making supported nanoparticle compositions, processes for making catalyst compositions, and processes for converting syngas. The catalyst composition can comprise nanoparticles comprising metal oxide(s), such as manganese cobalt oxide. This disclosure is particularly useful for converting syngas via the Fischer-Tropsch reactions to make olefins and/or alcohols.

Methods of making robust bijels include dispersing metal oxide precursors and/or metal salts into at least one phase of a bijel and hydrolyzing and condensing the metal oxide precursors and/or metal salts in a sol-gel reaction to form sintered bridges between interfacially jammed surface-active nanoparticles. The methods can be used with any bijels, including those produced during solvent transfer-induced phase separation (STRIPS) methods and other methods. A robust bijel includes chemically sintered bridges between the interfacially jammed surface-active nanoparticles. Methods of making nanocatalyst-functionalized sintered bijels include adsorbing metal salts to a surface of sintered interfacially jammed nanoparticles of bijels, and reducing the metal precursors on the surface of the sintered nanoparticles. Nanocatalyst-functionalized sintered bijels include catalytically active metal or metal oxide nanocatalysts on a surface of the sintered interfacially jammed surface-active nanoparticles.

A gold-supported carbon catalyst includes gold fine particles supported on carbon black, wherein the gold fine particles are coordinated by an alkanethiol at a coverage of from 10% to 70%, and wherein the gold fine particles have an average particle diameter of from 1.0 nm to 1.5 nm.

A method for preparing a porous nano-fiber heterostructure photocatalytic filter screen includes: preparing a noble metal nanostructure with tunable spectra and a heterostructure composite photocatalyst of a photocatalytic material; and preparing a large area and multilayer porous nano-fiber filter screen structure, while utilizing a scattering enhancement effect of metal nanoparticles in an porous optical fiber to realize repeated conduction of sunlight in the optical fiber and finally interact with the composite photocatalyst on a surface to improve photocatalytic efficiency. Preparation of the heterostructure composite photocatalyst with a wide spectral response of and tunable visible to infrared band spectra is realized, at the same time, with reference to high adsorbability, high light transmission of nanometer fiber and unique optical characteristics of metal nanoparticles, an air purification filter screen with a high sunlight utilization rate and a high catalytic degradation capability is creatively provided.

An efficient photocatalyst nanocomposite comprising reduced graphene oxide, noble metal, and a metal oxide prepared by a one-step method that utilizes date seed extract as a reducing and nanoparticle determining size agent. The photocatalyst of the invention is a more effective sunlight photocatalyst than that prepared by traditional method in the photo decomposition of organic compounds in contaminated water.

A nanocatalyst including single atoms of platinum dispersed on a nanoscale metal oxide, and the nanocatalyst comprises 0.01 wt % to 1 wt % platinum. Preparing the nanocatalyst includes combining a solution comprising a nanoscale metal oxide and a compound containing a Group 10 metal to yield a mixture, aging the mixture for a length of time, filtering the mixture to yield a solid, washing the solid to eliminate water soluble anions, and calcining the solid to yield a nanocatalyst including single atoms or clusters of atoms of the Group 10 metal on the nanoscale metal oxide.

Described are catalytic articles comprising a substrate having a washcoat on the substrate, the washcoat containing a catalytic component having a first average (D50) particle size and a functional binder component having a second average (D50) particle size in the range of about 10 nm to about 1000 nm, wherein the ratio of the first average (D50) particle size to the second average (D50) particle size is greater than about 10:1. The catalytic articles are useful in methods and systems to purify exhaust gas streams from an engine.

Metal nanoparticle-bearing carbonaceous supports, or solid-supported metal-catalysts, can be formed by incipient wetness, wet impregnation and ethylene glycol reduction methods. The solid-supported metal-catalysts can be used a heterogeneous catalysts in various catalytic reactions such as hydrodeoxygenation reactions, catalyze hydrodehalogenation reactions, NN hydrogenolysis reactions and oxidation reactions. The solid-supported metal-catalysts are easy to handle, are easily separable from reaction media, are stable in various types of reaction media, and are recyclable.

A method of reducing an aromatic ring under relatively mild condition using sub-nano particles of a transition metal supported on super paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs). The catalyst is efficient for catalyzing the reduction of both carbocyclic and heterocyclic compound. In compound comprising both carbocyclic and heterocyclic aromatic rings, the catalyst displays high regioselectivity for the heterocyclic ring.

Catalysts and methods for the selective conversion of carbon dioxide and hydrogen into methanol using heat and high pressure in a hydrogenation reactor are disclosed. Key to this process are catalysts, which are comprised of multimetallic, aluminum oxide-supported nanoparticles. In some embodiments of the invention, the catalytic nanoparticles are made from mixtures of zinc and copper, or mixtures of palladium and copper, in different stoichiometric equivalents. In others, stoichiometric additives or dopants are added in order to improve the rate of product formation, improve selectivity, or allow for flow configurations. Methods for the use of these catalysts for the synthesis of methanol, and for the purification of CO.sub.2, H.sub.2, or CO gas streams by transforming contaminants into liquid methanol are also described.