Ordered Mesoporous Materials as Catalysts

After their discovery in the early 1990s, ordered mesoporous materials have become one of the most widely investigated classes of materials, and applications have been considered in many areas, in particular in catalysis. They have attracted attention because of their unique properties such as high surface areas, controllable compositions, crystallinity, thermal and chemical stability, tailored porosities, narrow pore size distributions, concave surface curvatures, surface functionalities, as well as the opportunities they offer for incorporation of catalytically active and selective species. This chapter is focused on the properties of ordered mesoporous solids that distinguish them from more conventional porous catalytic materials. Emphasis is placed on history, development, and methods of synthesis of ordered mesoporous materials.