Thursday, February 26, 2015

Design of Functional Nanostructured Carbons for Advanced Heterogeneous Catalysts- A Review



“A friend of mine once sent me a post card with a picture of the entire planet Earth taken from space. On the back it said, "Wish you were here."” -- Stephen Wright (American Actor and Writer, b.1955)

This post is rich with TIPS.  They all are inspired by an article titled Design of Functional Nanostructured Carbons for Advanced Heterogeneous Catalysts: A Review. (http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Guang-Ping_Hao/publication/264828602_Design_of_Functional_Nanostructured_Carbons_for_Advanced_Heterogeneous_Catalysts_A_Review/links/53f316440cf2dd48950c8b00.pdf) The article itself is well worth reading. But in addition it contains information that can be even more valuable than the actual content of the text of the article.

There are four TIPS …

TIP 1: reviews
TIP 2: keywords
TIP 3: experts
TIP 4: self-promotion

More TIPS details at the end of this post.

First, a little more information about this inspirational article.

Here is the abstract of the review …

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The research and development of functional nanostructured carbons (FNCs) or FNC-based catalysts for heterogeneous catalysis is a highly dynamic and important topic in academia and industry because FNCs show integrated advantages: accessible pore system, regular pore structure, controlled bulk composition and surface chemistry, rapid ionic and electron mobility, etc as compared to their conventional analogs. Rather than a detailed treatise into every aspects of FNCs, this short review attempts to highlight some critical and important issues of a series of FNCs based on some representative reactions: (1) the pathways in rational fabrication of the structure and chemistry controlled FNCs, (2) the strategies to make the most of structural merits in design of high-performance catalysts based on FNCs, (3) the possible roles of textural parameters and surface heterogeneities of FNCs on catalytic behaviors. Finally, the challenges in the design of more tailored FNCs and FNC-based catalysts are pointed out, and the need of advanced characterizations and computational predication for in-depth understanding of carbon physics and chemistry of FNCs as well as catalysis mechanisms are suggested.  
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TIP 1: REVIEWS
One of the easiest ways to learn about or to keep with a technical topic is to read reviews prepared by other experts in the field.  An easy way to find reviews is to search for reviews in the title field.  For example, if your primary interest is in coal desulfurization, you could enter the following search in Google Scholar …

allintitle: review coal desulfurization

TIP 2: KEYWORDS
Any review article that suits your purpose will provide a number of keywords to use for subsequent online research.  The article inspiring the current post, for example, offers the following …

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Keywords
FNC = Functional nanostructured carbon
CNT = Carbon nanotube
SWCNT = Single-walled carbon nanotubes
DWCNT = Double-walled carbon nanotube
MWCNT = Multi-walled carbon nanotubes
CNF = Carbon nanofiber
OMC = Ordered mesoporous carbon
CDC = Carbide-derived carbon
BCNT = Boron-doped carbon nanotube
HGS = Hollow graphitic sphere
ORR = Oxygen reduction reaction
OER = Oxygen evolution reaction
NCNC = N-doped carbon nanocage
CDC = Carbide-derived carbon
FTS = Fischer-Tropsch synthesis
ODH = Oxidative dehydrogenation
CVD = Chemical vapor deposition
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TIP 3: EXPERTS
Every review article will include a list of references.  This list can be a wonderful source of expertise.  For example, perusing the references in our featured article includes several articles authored by Martin Oschatz. A Google Scholar search on Oschatz, M. in the author field results in 135 hits.

TIP 4: SELF PROMOTION: turn your literature search into a review article
Many review articles are the result of an intensive literature searched conducted in order to determine how tproceed on a course of original research.  When you find yourself conducting such a literature search, consider the possibility of using the results to produce a review article.

TIP 5: Visit www.jeansteinhardtconsulting.com. Tips at this site include ...

Open Access Journals
The open access trend is a boon, both to readers and to authors

Searching Patents
Patents contain a wealth of technical literature … some of which is available nowhere else

Finding Review Articles
Nothing beats a good review article for getting up to speed on unfamiliar technology

In Search of Expertise
Use these handy techniques to identify and locate experts in any given technology

Googling®
These search techniques can make your Googling more effective and less time consuming

LinkedIn®
LinkedIn is good for much more than posting your resume.


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