Future directions of catalytic chemistry

Abstract

Abstract The philosophy of sustainable development is prevailing worldwide, and will probably bring about a society revolution trend in the future. Catalytic chemistry will play a crucial role in sustainable economic development since at least a catalytic process is involved in almost all-important areas of chemical industry, such as synthesis of chemicals and materials, energy production and conversion as well as pollution abatement and environmental protection. In this paper, we attempt to summarize three common critical directions for catalysis research, in order to meet future needs for sustainable economic development. (i) The discovery of high-performance catalysts will evolve from trial-and-error to rational design. This is due to the maturing theory-experiment joint research schemes and the increasing abilities to explore dynamic nature of catalysts under reaction conditions. (ii) The catalysis for the transition of energy and chemicals generation from oil and coal to more renewable sources will be highly pursued. (iii) The catalysis for cleaner chemical processes will be another active research direction. In Sections “Sustainable catalysis for renewable fuels and chemicals” and “Ecologically clean catalytic process”, some important examples are discussed especially.