Three-Dimensional Carbon Nanotube Scaffolds as Particulate Filters and Catalyst Support Membranes

• Published in: ACS nano 2010-04, Vol.4 (4), p.2003-2008
• Main Authors: Halonen, Niina, Rautio, Aatto, Leino, Anne-Riikka, Kyllönen, Teemu, Tóth, Géza, Lappalainen, Jyrki, Kordás, Krisztián, Huuhtanen, Mika, Keiski, Riitta L, Sápi, András, Szabó, Mária, Kukovecz, Ákos, Kónya, Zoltán, Kiricsi, Imre, Ajayan, Pulickel M, Vajtai, Robert
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/nn100150x

Three-dimensional carbon nanotube scaffolds created using micromachined Si/SiO2 templates are used as nanoparticulate filters and support membranes for gas-phase heterogeneous catalysis. The filtering efficiency of better than 99% is shown for the scaffolds in filtering submicrometer particles from air. In the hydrogenation of propene to propane reaction low activation energy of E a ∼27.8 ± 0.6 kJ·mol−1, a considerably high turnover rate of ∼1.1 molecules·Pd site−1·s−1 and durable activity for the reaction are observed with Pd decorated membranes. It is demonstrated that appropriate engineering of macroscopic-ordered nanotube architectures can lead to multifunctional applications.