On-Chip Catalytic Microreactors for Modern Catalysis Research

Over the past two decades, microfluidics, represented by lab-on-a-chip (LoC) systems, have been developed because of their unique advantages of low reactant consumption, environmental friendliness, high safety, high efficiency, high sensitivity, portability, and easy handling of reactants. The distinguishing features of microfluidics have made the on-chip reactor a highly efficient platform for general chemical experiments, especially catalysis. In this paper, through a brief review of the recent work on microfluidic catalysis, we highlight the importance of on-chip catalytic microreactors. New approaches to the fabrication of on-chip catalytic microreactors and their integration with multifunctional components are briefly introduced. Finally, the current challenges and future perspectives of this up-and-coming field are discussed based on our own opinions. It is believed that, with the progress of interdisciplinary cooperation, microfluidics and catalysis could be complementary sciences; catalysts may play a very important role in LoC systems, and on-chip catalytic microreactors could be a highly efficient experimental platform for modern catalysis research.