US Patent 8216961 - Metal-metal oxide-silica nanoparticle

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8216961.html

This patent from the Korea University Research and Business Foundation teaches forming nanoparticle chemical catalysts which are coated with silica to avoid problems of agglomeration. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method for preparing a core-shell nanoparticle comprising:

providing a core material including a metal oxide having catalytic activity; and

coating the surface of the metal oxide with silica to form the core-shell nanoparticle,

wherein the core-shell nanoparticle includes a mesoporous shell, and

wherein the size of the core material comprises a range from about 5 nm to about 100 nm, and

wherein the core material comprises a metal core and a metal oxide shell.