Carbon nanotubes and nanofibers in catalysis

This review analyses the literature from the early 1990s until the beginning of 2003 and covers the use of carbon nanotubes (CNT) and nanofibers as catalysts and catalysts supports. The article is composed of three sections, the first one explains why these materials can be suitable for these applications, the second describes the different preparation methods for supporting metallic catalysts on these supports, and the last one details the catalytic results obtained with nanotubes or nanofibers based catalysts. When possible, the results were compared to those obtained on classical carbonaceous supports and explanations are proposed to clarify the different behaviors observed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.