In catalytic applications, fiber materials are usually used as supports or substrates for various catalysts, combined with their structural characteristics of high specific surface area to achieve efficient catalytic effects. Alfa Chemistry provides customers with fiber solutions for catalytic applications, according to techno-economic requirements or considerations.
Advantages of Fiber Materials in Catalysis
In terms of catalysis, fibrous materials have important advantages due to the diameter-length ratio, such as their low resistance to internal diffusion, high surface-to-volume ratio, and high porosity. In addition, fiber-based structured materials are generally considered to have favorable mass transfer and pressure drop properties, so fibers exhibit excellent catalytic performance in terms of mass transfer and pressure drop. Considering the variation in fiber scale, nanofibers may also exhibit additional advantages such as hierarchical porous structures. Fiber catalytic systems can be further used in various specific catalytic applications, such as pollutant removal, photocatalytic sterilization, hydrogen production and carbon dioxide emission reduction, etc.
Fiber Solutions for Catalysis
- Photocatalytic Fiber System
Photocatalytic fiber is an emerging supported visible light-driven catalyst with large surface area and hierarchical porous structure, which is beneficial for carrier separation and transfer. Photocatalytic fiber systems can be divided into existing fiber loaded photocatalysts and independent fibers embedded with photocatalysts. The catalytic system combines the advantages of active catalyst powder and fiber, so it has the characteristics of excellent photocatalytic efficiency, mild reaction conditions, easy reuse, no secondary pollution after use, and high stability. [1]
- Electrocatalytic Fiber System
Electrocatalytic applications are necessary for the development of fuel cells, water splitting systems, and batteries. In electrocatalytic applications, fibrous materials are candidates for the preparation of electrode materials. For example, carbon nanofibers have been shown to be effective catalytic supports for precious metals in electrocatalytic applications. In addition, the specific application range of the electrocatalytic fiber system also includes hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, oxygen reduction reaction, carbon dioxide reduction reaction, and nitrogen reduction reaction. [2]
Catalyst Support Technology
The basic components of different fibers have different functional groups to immobilize the catalyst. For example, cotton fibers are rich in hydroxyl groups, while wool fibers have a large number of disulfide bonds, carboxyl groups, and amino groups, which can immobilize catalysts through hydrogen bonds and van der Waals forces. However, for synthetic fibers, due to their less functional groups, other preparation methods for fiber catalytic systems are required.
Top-down approaches include:
- Hydrothermal/alcohol-thermal method
- Coating method
- Layer by layer method
- In situ growth method
- Magnetron sputtering
Bottom-up approaches include:
- Electrospinning technique
- Casting technique
- Co-extrusion technique
Related Fiber Series
The following are some fiber series you may be interested in, click to quickly browse related products and services.
References
- Wei Wang, et al. Composites Part B: Engineering, 2021, 205, 108512.
- Fangzhou Zhang, et al. Advanced Fiber Materials, 2022, 4, 720–735.
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