Novel Smart Microreactors Equipped with Responsive Catalytic Nanoparticles on Microchannels.

Abstract

Nowadays efficient and reliable control of highly exothermic reactions to effectively prevent overheating or even explosions still remains a challenging task, although newly developed microreactor technology has shown promise. Here, we report a novel smart microreactor system equipped with responsive catalytic nanoparticles on microchannels for self-regulated control over highly exothermic reactions by responding to the reaction-generated heat. On the basis of shrinking/swelling behaviors of polymeric networks in the responsive catalytic nanoparticles, the smart microreactor could respond to the change of reaction temperature to tune the catalysis activity of catalytic particles in a thermo-feedback process. As a breakthrough result, highly exothermic reactions carried out in such a microreactor can be well-controlled in a self-regulation process without any manual assistance, efficiently ensuring the safety of the reaction. Such smart responsive catalytic systems have high potential and are attractive as a new generation of efficient tools that feature a self-regulation property for highly exothermic catalytic reactions.