Oxides:

Ceramics rare earth oxides, vanadia-based materials, micro-and mesoporous oxides, zeolites, sulphated-ZrO2 and layered materials – Architecture, synthetic methods, structure – property correlation and characterization, ion exchange, acidic and basic nature of these materials.

Clay chemistry:

Type and clays, kaolinites, hydrotalcites, clay polymers, clay colloids, and pillared clays. Structure, ion exchange and acidic properties of clays. Clays as supports and catalysts. Clay-mediated organic reactions.

Automotive emission catalysis:

Air pollution, development of three-way catalysts, principles and operation of exhaust catalysts, surface chemistry, use of zeolites in exhaust emission control.

Bimetallic catalysts:

Preparation, characterization and special catalytic properties.

Surface science view of catalysis:

Methods of surface science studies, chemical transformations related to catalysis on oxides, mono- and bimetal surfaces, monitoring surface reactions by in-situ spectroscopic methods. Structure sensitive and insensitive reactions, oscillations in catalytic reactions, structure and bonding modifications, measuring heat of adsorption, single crystal adsorption calorimetry – a new development.

Active site – interpretation, surface frontier molecular orbitals, reaction kinetics, modeling of heterogeneous catalytic reactions. Catalytic reactors.

References:

1. Heterogeneous Catalysis for the Synthetic Chemist, R.L. Augustine Marcel Dekker, 1996.
2. Insights into Inorganic Chemicals, Ed. D. Thompson, The Roayl Society of Chemistry, 1995.
3. Perspectives in Catalysis, Ed. J.M. Thomas & V.I. Zamaraev, Blackwell Scientific, 1992.
4. Studies in Surface Science and Catalysis volumes, Elsevier.
5. Inorganic Materials, 2nd Edition, Ed. D.W. Bruce and D. O’ttare John Wiley, 1996.
6. Reviews on these topics appear in various journals.