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Wang K, Pera-Titus M. Microstructured gas-liquid-(solid) interfaces: A platform for sustainable synthesis of commodity chemicals. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eado5448. [PMID: 38809985 PMCID: PMC11135396 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ado5448] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2024] [Accepted: 04/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/31/2024]
Abstract
Gas-liquid-solid catalytic reactions are widespread in nature and man-made technologies. Recently, the exceptional reactivity observed on (electro)sprayed microdroplets, in comparison to bulk gas-liquid systems, has attracted the attention of researchers. In this perspective, we compile possible strategies to engineer catalytically active gas-liquid-(solid) interfaces based on membrane contactors, microdroplets, micromarbles, microbubbles, and microfoams to produce commodity chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide, ammonia, and formic acid. In particular, particle-stabilized microfoams, with superior upscaling capacity, emerge as a promising and versatile platform to conceive high-performing (catalytic) gas-liquid-(solid) nanoreactors. Gas-liquid-(solid) nanoreactors could circumvent current limitations of state-of-the-art multiphase reactors (e.g., stirred tanks, trickle beds, and bubble columns) suffering from poor gas solubility and mass transfer resistances and access gas-liquid-(solid) reactors with lower cost and carbon footprint.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kang Wang
- Cardiff Catalysis Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK
| | - Marc Pera-Titus
- Cardiff Catalysis Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK
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Wang K, Zhang S, Dedovets D, Pera-Titus M. Ethanol Foams Stabilized by Isobutyl-Based POSS-Organosilica Dual-Particle Assemblies. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2024; 16:13282-13290. [PMID: 38438276 PMCID: PMC10941061 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c18615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2023] [Revised: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/06/2024]
Abstract
Nonaqueous foams in low-surface tension solvents (<25 mN·m-1) are highly desired for applications in fire extinguishers and detoxification gels. However, their formation is a Holy Grail of the chemical industry due to the need for stabilizers with low surface energy and high recyclability. Herein, we disclose a new strategy to generate abundant foams in ethanol and a variety of low-surface tension solvents relying on the interfacial coadsorption of two different particles. The particles consist of surface-active fluorinated silica particles, used as a stabilizer, and a novel amphiphilic polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) decorated with isobutyl cage substituents, used as a frother. The interaction between POSS and fluorinated particles at the ethanol-air interface was thoroughly investigated by combining physicochemical methods (contact angle, dynamic surface tension, and dynamic light scattering methods) and catalytic tests using the model aerobic oxidation reaction of benzyl alcohol. Both particles could be conveniently recycled for at least 5 consecutive runs with high foamability and catalytic activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kang Wang
- Cardiff
Catalysis Institute, School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, U.K.
| | - Shi Zhang
- Laboratoire
du Futur (LOF), UMR 5258 CNRS-Solvay-Universite
Bordeaux 1, 178 Av Dr
Albert Schweitzer, 33608 Pessac Cedex, France
| | - Dmytro Dedovets
- Laboratoire
du Futur (LOF), UMR 5258 CNRS-Solvay-Universite
Bordeaux 1, 178 Av Dr
Albert Schweitzer, 33608 Pessac Cedex, France
| | - Marc Pera-Titus
- Cardiff
Catalysis Institute, School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, U.K.
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Trinh P, Mikhailovskaya A, Lefèvre G, Pantoustier N, Perrin P, Lorenceau E, Dollet B, Monteux C. Relation between oxidation kinetics and reactant transport in an aqueous foam. J Colloid Interface Sci 2023; 643:267-275. [PMID: 37068360 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.03.140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Revised: 03/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/22/2023] [Indexed: 04/09/2023]
Abstract
HYPOTHESIS Aqueous foams are expected to constitute exquisite particularly suitable reactive medium for the oxidation of metals, since the reactant H+ can be supplied through the continuous liquid phase, while the reactant O2 can be transported through the gas bubbles. EXPERIMENTS To test this hypothesis, we investigated the oxidation of a metallic copper cylinder immersed in an aqueous foam. To study the relation between the transport of these reactants and the kinetics of the chemical reaction we use a forced drainage setup which enables us to control both the advection velocity of the H+ ions through the foam and the foam liquid fraction. FINDINGS We find experimentally that the mass of dissolved copper presents a maximum with the drainage flow rate, and thus with the foam liquid fraction. Modeling analytically the transfer of H+ and O2 through the foams enables us to show that this non-monotonic behavior results from a competition between the advective flux of H+ ions and the unsteady diffusion of O2 through the thin liquid films which tends to be slower as the area of the thin liquid films decreases with the drainage flow rate and the liquid fraction. This study shows for the first time how to optimize the foam structure and drainage flow in reactive foams in which the reactants are present both in the liquid and gaseous phases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pierre Trinh
- Soft Matter Science and Engineering, CNRS, ESPCI, PSL University, Sorbonne University, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Alesya Mikhailovskaya
- Soft Matter Science and Engineering, CNRS, ESPCI, PSL University, Sorbonne University, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Grégory Lefèvre
- Chimie ParisTech, PSL Research University, CNRS, Institut de Recherche de Chimie Paris (IRCP), F-75005 Paris, France
| | - Nadège Pantoustier
- Soft Matter Science and Engineering, CNRS, ESPCI, PSL University, Sorbonne University, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Patrick Perrin
- Soft Matter Science and Engineering, CNRS, ESPCI, PSL University, Sorbonne University, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France
| | | | | | - Cécile Monteux
- Soft Matter Science and Engineering, CNRS, ESPCI, PSL University, Sorbonne University, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France
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Zhang Y, Ye Z, Li C, Chen Q, Aljuhani W, Huang Y, Xu X, Wu C, Bell SEJ, Xu Y. General approach to surface-accessible plasmonic Pickering emulsions for SERS sensing and interfacial catalysis. Nat Commun 2023; 14:1392. [PMID: 36914627 PMCID: PMC10011407 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37001-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2022] [Accepted: 02/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Pickering emulsions represent an important class of functional materials with potential applications in sustainability and healthcare. Currently, the synthesis of Pickering emulsions relies heavily on the use of strongly adsorbing molecular modifiers to tune the surface chemistry of the nanoparticle constituents. This approach is inconvenient and potentially a dead-end for many applications since the adsorbed modifiers prevent interactions between the functional nanosurface and its surroundings. Here, we demonstrate a general modifier-free approach to construct Pickering emulsions by using a combination of stabilizer particles, which stabilize the emulsion droplet, and a second population of unmodified functional particles that sit alongside the stabilizers at the interface. Freeing Pickering emulsions from chemical modifiers unlocks their potential across a range of applications including plasmonic sensing and interfacial catalysis that have previously been challenging to achieve. More broadly, this strategy provides an approach to the development of surface-accessible nanomaterials with enhanced and/or additional properties from a wide range of nano-building blocks including organic nanocrystals, carbonaceous materials, metals and oxides.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingrui Zhang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Ziwei Ye
- Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Joint International Research Laboratory of Precision Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Center, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology, Shanghai, 200237, PR China
| | - Chunchun Li
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Qinglu Chen
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Wafaa Aljuhani
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Yiming Huang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Xin Xu
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, MOE Key Laboratory of Computational Physical Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, PR China
| | - Chunfei Wu
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Steven E J Bell
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - Yikai Xu
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK.
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Chen L, Zhang S, Liu X, Ge X. Recent Advances in Water-Mediated Multiphase Catalysis. Curr Opin Colloid Interface Sci 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cocis.2023.101691] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/19/2023]
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Wei Z, Ma X, Wang P, Pan J. Interfacial Imide Polymerization of Functionalized Filled Microcapsule Templates by the Pickering Emulsion Method for the Rapid Removal of 3,4,5-Trichlorophenol from Wastewater. NANOMATERIALS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 12:3439. [PMID: 36234567 PMCID: PMC9565857 DOI: 10.3390/nano12193439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2022] [Revised: 09/22/2022] [Accepted: 09/26/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
In this work, an olive oil-filled composite capsule (C-O/W) adsorbent was prepared for the adsorption of 3,4,5-trichlorophenol (3,4,5-TCP) by the emulsion templating method. Using methylene diisocyanate (HDI) and 1,6-hexanediamine (HMDA) as functional monomers, olive oil was encapsulated in a shell layer composed of graphene oxide and a polymer by interfacial imine polymerization. The contaminant target was efficiently removed by the hydrophobic interaction between olive oil and chlorophenols. The removal of 3,4,5-TCP was remarkable, with an encapsulation rate of 85%. The unique microcapsule structure further enhanced the kinetic performance, which reached 92% of the maximum value within 40 min. The adsorption of different chlorophenols was investigated using 2-chlorophenol (2-CP), 2,6-dichlorophenol (2,6-DCP), and 3,4,5-TCP. The adsorption of 3,4,5-TCP by the C-O/W microcapsules was found to be much higher than that of other chlorophenols. When analyzing a real sample, the content of 3,4,5-TCP was significantly reduced after adsorption by the C-O/W microcapsules, demonstrating that the C-O/W microcapsules were also capable of removing 3,4,5-TCP from a complex environment. This simple and inexpensive preparation strategy provides a new method for the synthesis of functionalized C-O/W microcapsule adsorbents and an effective adsorbent of 3,4,5-TCP.
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Zhang S, Dedovets D, Pera-Titus M. Oil foams stabilized by POSS/organosilica particle assemblies: application for aerobic oxidation of aromatic alcohols. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY. A 2022; 10:9997-10003. [PMID: 35663126 PMCID: PMC9089673 DOI: 10.1039/d2ta00667g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2022] [Accepted: 03/17/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
A novel amphiphilic polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) with surfactant-like behavior was synthesized. By combining this new POSS, used as a frother, with surface-active catalytic organosilica particles, used as a stabilizer, we designed a dual particle system able to generate foams in pure organic solvents. Tunable foamability and foam stability were achieved in a variety of organic solvents by simply adjusting the POSS concentration. As a result, the catalytic activity was drastically boosted in the aerobic oxidation of pure aromatic alcohols under 1 bar O2 pressure. Particles were conveniently recycled with high foamability and the catalytic efficiency was maintained for at least 7 consecutive runs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shi Zhang
- Efficient Products and Processes Laboratory (E2P2L), UMI 3464 CNRS-Solvay 3966 Jin Du Road, Xin Zhuang Ind Zone 201108 Shanghai China
- Laboratoire du Futur (LOF), UMR 5258 CNRS-Solvay-Universite Bordeaux 1 178 Av Dr Albert Schweitzer 33608 Pessac Cedex France
| | - Dmytro Dedovets
- Laboratoire du Futur (LOF), UMR 5258 CNRS-Solvay-Universite Bordeaux 1 178 Av Dr Albert Schweitzer 33608 Pessac Cedex France
| | - Marc Pera-Titus
- Efficient Products and Processes Laboratory (E2P2L), UMI 3464 CNRS-Solvay 3966 Jin Du Road, Xin Zhuang Ind Zone 201108 Shanghai China
- Cardiff Catalysis Institute, School of Chemistry, Cardiff University Main Building, Park Place Cardiff CF10 3AT UK
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