Laser Electrodispersion of Metals for the Synthesis of Nanostructured Catalysts: Achievements and Prospects

Laser electrodispersion (LED) uniformly distributes metal over the external surface of a support as particles of strictly controlled size, composition, and shape. LED is used to synthesize model catalysts and determine the role of interaction between particles of an active metal in catalysis using nanostructured materials. In Moscow State University’s Development Program the experimental possibilities of physicochemical analysis of LED-produced systems with very low content of metals have been extended considerably, allowing the acquisition of new data on the relationship between the structure and properties of mono- and bimetallic catalysts. The resulting data are used to develop crusted catalysts with a reduced content of active metal/metals. Such catalysts have the optimum surface particle density and extremely high activity in a number of environmentally important processes that is orders of magnitude higher than in analogs produced via wet chemistry. Studies of the processing of toxic organochlorine compounds by hydrodechlorination, performed under the supervision of Academician V.V. Lunin with the participation of Profs. V.V. Smirnov, E.S. Lokteva, and others, were awarded Moscow State University’s Lomonosov Prize. The prospects for using LED are demonstrated by the examples of synthesizing catalysts of oxidation of carbon monoxide, methane, and sulfur-containing compounds.