Three Phase Interface Engineering for Advanced Catalytic Applications

Different from conventional gas–solid reactions operated at high temperature, both gaseous and liquid molecules/ions exist in a variety of low temperature catalytic reactions, resulting in a gradually increased attention on three phase catalysis. Recently, extensive attention has been focused on three phase engineering for the construction of gas–liquid–solid three phase catalytic interfaces to promote the interfacial mass transfer processes, therefore providing significantly improved catalytic performance favorable for potential large scale applications. This Spotlight highlights our latest progress in three phase photocatalysis and electrocatalysis and discusses the substantial role of three phase interface engineering in improving the overall catalytic performance mainly from three aspects: (1) wettability modification, (2) interface characterization, and (3) tandem and parallel triphase interfaces. The aim is to provide an overview of the classification and current research status of three phase catalysis, and to examine its potential application scenarios for the design of highly efficient triphase interface-based membrane reactors.