Hydrothermal performance of catalyst supports

A high surface area catalyst support having improved structural performance in a hydrothermal reaction environment, comprising:

• a mesoporous silica support substrate having a plurality of pores and a surface area of between about 100 m2/gram and 1,000 m2/gram;
• and
• a protective conformal coating comprising between about 1 and about 30 monolayers of at least one metal oxide selected from the group consisting of Nb2O5, TiO2 and ZrO2, the protective conformal layer substantially coating the surface of the support substrate and configured to substantially prevent structural degradation of the surface area of the support substrate within the hydrothermal reaction environment.

The high surface area catalyst support of claim 18, wherein the catalyst support is characterized by a catalytic activity, and wherein the catalytic activity is substantially maintained within the hydrothermal reaction environment.

The high surface area catalyst support of claim 18, wherein the support substrate realizes less than about 25 percent surface area loss within the hydrothermal reaction environment.

The composition of claim 12, wherein the protective conformal coating comprises a multiple thin layers of different coating materials of different materials.