Submit an article to the high-profile PCCP themed issue on Controlled Nanostructures for Applications in Catalysts, which will be Guest Edited by Professor Ferdi Schüth (MPI Mülheim). The themed issue will be published in early 2011.
Deadline for Submission: 15 September 2010
The controlled fabrication of nanostructures has seen tremendous development over the last ten years or so. This progress was made possible by a combination of findings from different fields, such as the synthesis of ordered mesoporous materials, controlled preparation of size controlled nanoparticles, patterned functionalization of surfaces, integration of nanoparticles and dendrimers, among others. Such controlled nanostructures have been used in a variety of fields, but one of the most interesting applications is catalysis.
These nanostructured catalysts can have novel properties by the integration of different functional subunits or can catalyze novel types of conversions, such as cascade reactions by the integration of different catalytic functions. Moreover, the possibility to control the materials precisely on the nanoscale opens opportunities for fundamental studies, since these well ordered, structures and characterized materials are excellent model catalysts.
This themed issue will focus on the physical chemistry of these materials and their catalytic applications. Contributions should contain significant physical insight, therefore purely synthetic work cannot be considered for this issue. The purpose of this themed issue is to collect together the exciting work in this area and we believe it will make an important and lasting contribution to this area.
Submissions, either communications or full papers, should be high-quality manuscripts of original, unpublished research, containing important new physical insight.
All submissions will be subject to rigorous peer review to meet the usual high standards of PCCP.
Prediction of the structures at the atomic level of molecules and materials remains one of the core challenges of chemistry. Computational chemistry and physics have given us powerful tools over the last few decades for accurate modelling of atomic level structures. But how far can we predict structures? That is, to what extent are we able, given knowledge of the chemical composition of a system, to identify reliably the thermodynamically stable structure? 
