Nanocatalysis: Mature Science Revisited or Something Really New?

“Nanomania” has reached the area of heterogeneous catalysis. Nanosized catalyst constituents are important for functions that require structural control over several scales of dimension. Nanocatalysis may be understood as a redefinition of catalyst synthesis: multidimensional structural control is exerted by considering catalysts as inorganic polymers rather than as close‐packed crystals. Primary, secondary, and tertiary structural hierarchies translate into molecular building blocks and linkers, the defect structure of crystals, and particle morphology. High‐throughput techniques and in situ synthetic analysis are the tools required to arrive at better defined catalytic materials that can fulfil the high expectations created by the incorporation of catalysts into the “nano” research field. Heterogeneous catalysis requires nanosized solids to enable dynamical interactions with substrates. Current techniques give chemically complex materials with poorly defined properties. An alternative approach yields “nanocatalysts” in the form of inorganic polymers whose building blocks are active sites with minimial chemical complexity (the picture shows nanoplatelets of MoO3 hydrate consisting of corner‐sharing octahedra).