Dark material with a bright future: Carbon as support in future heterogeneous catalysis – A short personal perspective

The increasing concern for the environment has spurred research into the use of new feedstocks such as biomass and CO₂ for the sustainable production of chemicals and materials. Here I will show, based on selected examples of own work on electrocatalytic and thermocatalytic glucose and starch oxidation, CO₂ capture and lipid deoxygenation that carbon supports are eminently suitable for studying particle and support effects when converting these new feedstocks. In addition the replacement of noble metals by Mo-carbide and W-carbide, i.e. more readily available non-noble metal based catalysts, will be demonstrated for carbon based supported carbides. These examples highlight the relevance and potential of carbon supports in future catalysis.