Arijit Bose, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Rhode Island, 16 Greenhouse Road, Room No: 217 Crawford Hall, Department of Chemical Engineering, Kingston, RI 02881, Jayashri Sarkar, Chemical Engineering, University of Rhode Island, 16 Greenhouse Rd, Kingston, RI 02881, Christopher J. Brooks, Honda Research Institute, 1381 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH 43212, Vijay T. John, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Tulane University, 300 Lindy Boggs Bldg., New Orleans, LA 70118, and G. Ramanath, Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180.
The highly organized nanoscale structures in the AOT/lecithin/water/IO system have been used as robust templates for a variety of reactions in the aqueous and organic nanochannels to produce highly ordered composite materials. In one example, TiO2/Pt nanocomposite structures, formed by a low temperature synthesis route, has been used as a catalyst for the oxidation of carbon monoxide. The facetted Pt nanoparticles, their homogeneous distribution throughout the support pores, and the highly ordered interconnected structure created by the surfactant template dramatically increase the performance of the catalyst compared to commercial catalysts. The general principles used in the synthesis can be transferred to a large range of nanocomposite systems, and additional examples will be provided.