Nanoporous and Nanostructured Materials for Catalysis, Sensor, and Gas Separation Applications

Nanostructures in the form of thin films, nanoparticles, nanoporous materials, nanocomposites, and bulk nanocrystalline materials are of interest both for basic scientific research and technological applications as their properties are dominated by the extremely large specific surface areas.Such surfaces have generally unique properties which greatly differ from those of bulk materials, and which may even acquire characteristic size dependence at the nanometer scale.Because of the high surface-to-volume ratio, local phenomena, such as adsorption or changes in the surface electronic state, may contribute significantly to the overall properties of the materials.The detailed understanding of nanoporous materials and nanostructured materials defines challenges in basic science, not only in synthesis but also with respect to characterization and modeling, for instance, of surfacerelated properties.In addition, these nanomaterials have an immense potential for technological applications in chemical production, environmental control, photovoltaic and energy systems.This special issue of Journal of Nanomaterials titled "Nanoporous and nanostructured materials for catalysis, sensor, and gas separation applications" is based in part on papers submitted to the Materials Research Society (MRS) 2005 Spring Meeting, Symposium R "Nanoporous and nanostructured materials for catalysis, sensor, and gas separation applications," organized by Songwei Lu of PPG Industries, Inc., Horst Hahn of Technical University of Darmstadt, James Gole of Georgia Institute of Technology, and Jörg Weissmüller of Research Center Karlsruhe.The symposium was financially supported by the donors of the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund and PPG Industries, Inc.This special issue with a total of fifteen papers covers a wide range of topics related to nanoporous and nanostructured materials for catalysis and sensor applications, ranging