Photo Microreactor with Luminescent Fluid Mediating Solar Photochemical Synthesis

Abstract

The luminescent solar concentrator photo microreactor (LSC-PM), a microreactor utilizing luminophores to convert the high-energy photons in sunlight to those that can be absorbed by the photoreaction, holds promising prospects in solar photochemical synthesis, which is to harness sunlight to directly drive photoreactions. Herein, we proposed two new types of LSC-PMs, i.e., the fluoropolymer tube-in-tube reactor and the glass triple-channel reactor, both of which implemented the idea of having luminophores be dissolved in a solvent to form the luminescent fluid, instead of being immobilized in the solid lightguide. The two reactors achieved convenient reuse of the photodegraded luminescent fluid and rapid screening and change of the luminophore types to satisfy the demands of different photoreactions. According to the test of a synthetically significant reaction performed in the triple-channel reactor, it was estimated that a CO2 emission reduction of 15 kg could be realized to produce 1 g of N-formylpiperidine under sunlight as compared to employing an artificial light source. The low-cost and easily assembled tube-in-tube reactor and the deliberately designed triple-channel reactor, with both excellent chemical and irradiation resistance and high flexibility in the choice of luminophore types, could both serve as potential options for different applications in solar photochemical synthesis.