Nanoparticles on nanosteps

New technologies are starved for efficient and inexpensive catalysts. The best materials are made up of nanoparticles, whose properties are the result of their small size. The single catalyst particles have, however, an ugly tendency to cluster into larger particles, thereby reducing their effectiveness. A group of scientists from the International School of Advanced Studies in Trieste and the DEMOCRITOS centre of the Istituto Officina dei Materiali of the Italian National Research Council (IOM-