The efficient catalytic microsystem with halogen-free catalyst for the intensification on CO2 cycloaddition

Abstract The cycloaddition of carbon dioxide in the traditional autoclave usually suffers from the factors including long reaction time and high pressure. An efficient catalytic microsystem (micro-reaction pools, MRPs) is developed for the microinterface intensification on the reaction. The MRPs can greatly accelerate the gas liquid catalytic reactions. Liquid containing reactant and halogen-free catalyst ([C1C6Im][HCO3]) were capsulated with silicon nanoparticles to form micron particles, which have prominent liquidity and considerable interface for the cycloaddition. CO2 can easily pass the porous thin shell composed of nano-silicon and reach the liquid core. Due to the greatly enlarged specific surface area, MRPs possess much better reaction performance than the traditional gas–liquid systems, as well as the excellent recyclability. The reaction rate is at least twice than that of the autoclave, which greatly reduces the reaction time. Accordingly, MRPs can effectively reduce the reaction temperature and pressure, which is beneficial to the energy saving and process safety.