Srivastava Sarvesh K, Schmidt Oliver G
Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, IFW Dresden, Helmholtzstrasse 20, 01069, Dresden, Germany.
Chemistry. 2016 Jun 27;22(27):9072-6. doi: 10.1002/chem.201600923. Epub 2016 May 24.
A proof-of-concept design for autonomous, self-propelling motors towards value-added product synthesis and separation is presented. The hybrid motor design consists of two distinct functional blocks. The first, a sodium borohydride (NaBH4 ) granule, serves both as a reaction prerequisite for the reduction of vanillin and also as a localized solid-state fuel in the reaction mixture. The second capping functional block consisting of a graphene-polymer composite serves as a hydrophobic matrix to attract the reaction product vanillyl alcohol (VA), resulting in facile separation of this edible value-added product. These autonomously propelled motors were fabricated at a length scale down to 400 μm, and once introduced in the reaction environment showed rapid bubble-propulsion followed by high-purity separation of the reaction product (VA) by the virtue of the graphene-polymer cap acting as a mesoporous sponge. The concept has excellent potential towards the synthesis/isolation of industrially important compounds, affinity-based product separation, pollutant remediation (such as heavy metal chelation/adsorption), as well as localized fuel-gradients as an alternative to external fuel dependency.
本文展示了一种用于增值产品合成与分离的自主自推进电机的概念验证设计。混合电机设计由两个不同的功能模块组成。第一个是硼氢化钠（NaBH4）颗粒，它既是还原香草醛的反应前提，也是反应混合物中的局部固态燃料。第二个封端功能模块由石墨烯 - 聚合物复合材料组成，用作疏水基质以吸引反应产物香草醇（VA），从而便于分离这种可食用的增值产品。这些自主推进的电机制作长度可低至400μm，一旦引入反应环境，就会通过作为介孔海绵的石墨烯 - 聚合物帽实现快速气泡推进，随后对反应产物（VA）进行高纯度分离。该概念在合成/分离工业上重要的化合物、基于亲和力的产品分离、污染物修复（如重金属螯合/吸附）以及作为外部燃料依赖替代方案的局部燃料梯度方面具有巨大潜力。
