Synthesis Techniques for Ultrathin Oxide Layers of Heterogeneous Catalysts

Heterogeneous catalysis is enormously important in industrial chemical processing. Catalyst deactivation is a ubiquitous problem and the cost of catalyst regeneration significantly impacts the economics of catalytic processing. The use of ultrathin metal oxide coatings to encapsulate catalysts offers the possibility of inhibiting catalyst deactivation. This chapter introduces synthesis techniques for preparing ultrathin metal oxide layers to encapsulate heterogeneous catalysts with an emphasis on atomic layer deposition.