Mechanochemical synthesis emerged as the most advantageous, environmentally sound alternative to traditional routes for nanomaterials preparation with outstanding properties for advanced applications.

A simple and effective ultrasound-assisted wet impregnation method was developed for the preparation of magnetically separable TiO2/maghemite-silica photo-active nanocomposites. The resulting nanomaterials were characterized by several techniques and subsequently tested for their photocatalytic activities in the liquid phase selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol. An unprecedented selectivity in organic media (90% in acetonitrile) towards benzaldehyde was achieved at a benzyl alcohol conversion of ca. 50%, being remarkably superior in terms of activity to any other supported transition metal catalysts reported to date as well as commercial titania Evonik P-25 photocatalyst

A proof of concept of laser-assisted heterogeneously catalysed processes at room temperature using silica supported gold nanoparticles is reported. Au/SiO₂ nanoparticles were laser-irradiated at 532 nm (SPR maximum absorbance) to catalyse the selected reaction, namely the production of 4-benzoylmorpholine from benzaldehyde and morpholine via amide formation, for which quantitative yields to the target amide were obtained after 3–5 h of reaction. The protocol could also be extended to a tandem oxidation/amidation process which shows the potential of the proposed approach for the promotion of liquid-phase organic reactions at room temperature.