Nanostructured copper thin film used for catalysis

Three-dimensional microchannels as a simple microreactor

“…Since the increase in CO 2 intensity is proportional to reactant oxidation, at least 70% of n-hexane was consumed but this result can be improved if the sample is not saturated. The result is similar to the one obtained using quartz crystal microbalance [30] that indicated 80% variation in the peak area if a heated microchannel is filled with n-hexane. If only 10 g of nhexane is injected, the correspondent peak is not detected after heating, which it is most likely the maximum amount removed in a single batch.…”

“…The heating temperature was set to 300 • C, i.e. the value previously determined as required for VOCs catalysis [30]. The channel shape was defined as a triangular because this corresponds to a better approximation of drill profile and consequently machined channel profile.…”

“…The deposition only requires the immersion of the sample in an HF/CuSO 4 aqueous solution. The thickness of the copper layer is approximately 20 nm and the uniformity of the deposition is controlled by optical microscopy [30].…”

“…Copper catalysis was already tested in a long channel and good efficiency was obtained with n-hexane but not with 2-propanol [30]. Therefore, the same reactants and procedures were used in order to compare results.…”

“…The internal tube controls channel width whereas the external one is a platinum membrane that removes hydrogen and the whole system is used for cyclohexane dehydrogenation [29]. With much smaller dimensions, a three-dimensional microchannel, machined in conventional lathe, was used not only as a microreactor [30] but also as a chromatographic column [31] or a pre-concentrator [32,33]. This three-dimensional microchannel was used to oxidize VOCs (volatile organic compounds) for sample pretreatment.…”