Confinement of Nanoparticles in Carbon Nanotubes: A New Paradigm in Heterogeneous Catalysis

Design and development of new catalytic systems for sustainable catalysis are extremely important. Of late, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have garnered attention as fascinating materials in sustainable catalytic transformation, because of their interesting morphological features. Such reactions are catalyzed either by the individual cylinders that work as both catalysts and nanoreactors or by additional catalytic species that are confined within the CNT channel. In confinement catalysis, the catalytic reactions occur mainly in the CNT channels and exterior surfaces of CNTs. A number of steps are involved, such as adsorption, dissemination, and reaction on the dynamic surface of nanoparticles and formation of the products. In this chapter, we discuss recent advances in using confinement of nanoparticles in CNTs as an efficient catalyst for sustainable chemical reactions (hydrogenation, oxidation, oil refining, biofuels from biomass, Fischer–Tropsch synthesis, dehydrogenation, and asymmetric catalysis).