Diamond Nanoparticles in Heterogeneous Catalysis

The use of diamond nanoparticles in catalysis has attracted considerable interest during the last three decades since these materials have been made commercially available. Diamond nanoparticles have been employed as supports of a small metal or metal oxide nanoparticles, as scaffolds for covalent grafting of organic molecules or metal complexes, and as carbocatalysts by generating a few layers of sp(2) carbons or other heteroatoms on the external surface. This review describes the main structural and chemical properties of diamond nanoparticles that have led to the development of catalysts with superior activity with respect to the use of analogous catalysts based on other carbon allotropes, carbon materials or even some benchmark metal oxides. These diamond-based materials have found superior applications as catalysts, photocatalysts, and more recently as carbocatalysts.