In the water gas shift (WGS) reaction, CO reacts with steam producing $ \rm CO_2 $ and $ \rm H_2 $. It is an important reaction to decrease the CO level in the syngas, deriving from the process of steam reforming of natural gas or other sources. In addition, WGS is one of the main reactions to produce $ \mathbf{H_2} $ at industrial scale. In that case, it is performed in two steps: the first one at high temperature, with iron-based catalysts, and the second one at low temperature, with copper-based catalysts.

It is well known that for many metal-catalyzed reactions the support influences the catalytic properties of the metal particles. The strong metal−support interaction (SMSI) effect may be due to: (i) geometrical effects: for example, the metallic nanoparticles (MNPs) are capped by functional groups from the support that migrate to the surface of the nanoparticles during the reaction; (ii) electronic effects: charge transfer between support and nanoparticle.

Growth in the use of high quality colored ceramics has stimulated research into the development of new classes of pigments with superior durability and color reproducibility, which can be produced using inexpensive, straightforward, and eco-friendly synthesis procedures.

Nanowires belong to a new class of quasi-unidimensional materials that have been attracting great interest due to their numerous potential applications, such as functional materials in biomedical sciences, electronics, optics, magnetic devices and energy storage. Among the several ways to produce nanowires, one can mention template-assisted fabrication, vapor-liquid-solid mechanism, molecular beam epitaxy and electrochemical nanolithography.

High-temperature electrochemical devices exhibiting the preferential transfer of protons have the potential to produce a shift to a sustainable energy economy in which hydrogen replaces hydrocarbon sources as the principal fuel for stationary power and transportation. Protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs), with a proton-conducting ceramic electrolyte membrane, cleanly convert the chemical energy of hydrogen to electrical energy in an intermediate temperature range (773−1023 K).

Viruses are among the most harmful pathogens and are responsible for the death of millions of people every year. Even after the development of the highly active anti-retroviral therapy which improved the quality of life and increased the life expectancy of patients with AIDS, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) alone was responsible for the death of 1.2 million people in 2014. The development of new strategies to fight viruses is necessary, as antiviral therapies and other efficacious vaccines are not available for many viral diseases.

Hybrid nanocrystal-polymer materials are of great importance for the solution-based fabrication of thin films with tailored optical and electronic properties for sensing, light emission, and photovoltaic applications. The excellent control over size, shape, and composition of inorganic nanocrystals (NCs) allows tuning of their physical properties and makes them interesting materials for devices, ranging from optoelectronics to medicine. On the other hand, polymers can also be synthesized with customized properties to fulfil a wide range of functionalities. Organic electronics has indeed seen a significant progress in the last years thanks to the synthesis of highly performing polymer semiconductors and conductors.

Doping has led to a revolutionary breakthrough in the design of semicondutor devices. Yet, it is still challenging to introduce dopants in nanoparticles (NPs) in order to access properties unavailable in the undoped materials. Different types of interactions between host and dopant are responsible for the properties of doped NPs. The new properties in doped NPs may originate from spin exchange interactions between the dopant and host, presence of long-lived highly isolated electronic states, or simply from high concentration of structural defects.