US Patent 7569510 - Nanoparticle catalysts for CO reduction in cigarettes

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7569510.html

This patent from Philip Morris teaches a way to convert carbon monoxide in cigarettes to carbon dioxide using metal oxide nanoparticles in a porous support. Claim 1 reads:

1. A catalyst comprising noble metal nanoparticles on non-noble metal oxides incorporated in a porous support of mesoporous silica wherein the catalyst is catalytically active for oxidation of carbon monoxide and wherein the noble metal nanoparticles are selected from the group consisting of gold, palladium, platinum and mixtures thereof and the non-noble metal oxides are selected from the group consisting of titania, alumina, ceria, zirconia, iron oxide, zinc oxide, magnesium oxide, and mixtures thereof.