Narrow Results

In this work, a simple method is reported for the synthesis of bundles of carbon nanostructures under room temperature and atmospheric pressure. A pulsed Nd:YAG laser (355 nm, 10 Hz) is focused into the mixture of ferrocene and xylene solutions to produce the nanostructures in which ferrocene plays the role of a catalyst while xylene is the carbon source for nanostructure growth. During the period of irradiation, the color of solution turns into dark brown from transparent orange. Upon the completion of irradiation, typically for an hour, a variety of bundles of carbon nanostructures are found in the solution. Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are used to investigate the nanostructures.

This chapter aims to illustrate the research that was conducted in Portugal or in collaboration with Portuguese research groups in the 2011–2022 period on the oxidative conversion of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to useful building blocks. It concerns the selective oxidation under mild catalytic oxidations of some VOCs (toluene, xylene, ethylbenzene, styrene and n-hexane), which are hazardous to human health and the environment. Both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts are discussed.