Development of nanostructured catalyst for hydrogen production and purification
The catalytic performances of a system are strongly related to its structural features [1, 2]. In these last years the use of innovative or improved preparation methods have been employed in order to exploit, in a more profitable way, the properties at nanometer level to improve the performance of a catalytic system. The awareness that specific reactions require tailored structure with different functionality has driven the scientists to figure on more and more complex catalysts . Very often, for example, in order to control the size of the particles, to avoid sintering among them, to have more than one active phase, it is necessary to prepare real nanoarchitectures where different components have a specific function. In order to improve the catalytic performances of materials involved in hydrogen production and purification reactions we have designed stable and active embedded catalysts using Rh, Au, Pd for :

> Partial Oxidation and Steam Reforming of Methane;
> Ethanol and Methanol Steam Reforming;
> PReferential OXidation (PROX) and Water Gas Shift Reaction (WGSR)

Selected recent publications
1. M. Cargnello, N. L. Wieder, T. Montini, R. J. Gorte and P. Fornasiero, "Synthesis of dispersible Pd@CeO2 nanostructures by self-assembly.", Journal of the American Chemical Society 132 (2010), 1402-1409, doi:10.1021/ja909131k.
2. M. Cargnello, T. Montini, S. Polizzi, N. L. Wieder, R. J. Gorte, M. Graziani and P. Fornasiero, “Novel embedded Pd@CeO2 catalysts: a way to active and stable catalysts.”, Dalton Transactions 39 (2010), 2122-2127,doi:10.1039/b916035c.