Fig. 4: Self-pressurizing mesoporous nanoreactors for biomass conversion.
a Schematic diagram of photothermal nanoreactor catalyzed HMF oxidation. The inner wall of the nanoreactor is modeled with Fe3O4 nanoparticles, and the outer wall is modeled with Ru nanoparticles. Kinetic plots of catalytic reactions at (b) photothermal and conventional heating (c) 65 °C and d 150 °C in nanoreactor-3. e Comparison of photothermal and thermocatalytic performances in nanoreactor-3 (the first-order reaction rate (k), the turnover frequency (TOF), FFCA selectivity, and HMF conversion). f Desorption time of target products and number of intermediates under photothermal and thermocatalytic catalysis in nanoreactor-3 through simulation. g DFT simulated reaction Gibbs free-energy diagram of HMF oxidation (65 and 150 °C). (h) Numerical simulation of surrounding temperature distributions and velocity vectors during photothermal and thermocatalytic nanoreactors. Flow field distribution around the nanoreactor-3 and simulation snapshots under i photothermal and j conventional heating (enrichment of intermediate molecules on the nanoreactor-3 surface, and the direction of the arrow shows its desorption path in the left panel. Yellow and blue particles represent intermediates and target products, respectively, in the right panel.) Reaction conditions: 50 mg of catalyst, 50 mg of HMF, 20 mL of acetonitrile as solvent, atmospheric pressure, O2, 10 h.
