Nanostructured materials of diverse architecture are ubiquitous in industrial catalysis. They offer exciting prospects to tackle various sustainability challenges faced by society. Since the introduction of the concept a century ago, researchers aspire to control the chemical identity, local environment and electronic properties of active sites on catalytic surfaces to optimize their reactivity in given applications. Nowadays, numerous strategies exist to tailor these characteristics with varying levels of atomic precision. Making headway relies upon the existence of analytical approaches able to resolve relevant structural features and remains challenging due to the inherent complexity even of the simplest heterogeneous catalysts, and to dynamic effects often occurring under reaction conditions. Computational methods play a complementary and ever-increasing role in pushing forward the design. Here, we examine how nanoscale engineering can enhance the selectivity and stability of catalysts. We highlight breakthroughs towards their commercialization and identify directions to guide future research and innovation.

不同结构的纳米结构材料在工业催化中无处不在。它们为解决社会面临的各种可持续发展挑战提供了令人兴奋的前景。自一个世纪前引入该概念以来，研究人员渴望控制催化表面活性位点的化学特性、局部环境和电子特性，以优化它们在给定应用中的反应性。如今，存在许多策略来以不同级别的原子精度来定制这些特性。取得进展依赖于能够解决相关结构特征的分析方法的存在，并且由于即使是最简单的非均相催化剂的固有复杂性以及在反应条件下经常发生的动态效应，仍然具有挑战性。计算方法在推动设计方面发挥着互补和不断增强的作用。在这里，我们研究了纳米级工程如何提高催化剂的选择性和稳定性。我们强调其商业化的突破，并确定指导未来研究和创新的方向。