Microfluidic chip-based analytical system for rapid screening of photocatalysts

A simple and efficient microfluidic chip-based analytical system for rapid screening of photocatalysts was developed. The catalyst screening system consisted of a microchip with multiple channels for parallel reactions, a UV light source, and a CCD camera-based photometric detection system for monitoring the photocatalytic reaction. A novel microfluidic introduction method for loading particle samples into chip microchannels was established using dry sample powders and wedge-structure channel design. With this method, multiple different photocatalyst samples could be quickly introduced into the microchip with good reproducibility without the need of additional pumps or valves. We applied the present system in the rapid screening of doping TiO2 photocatalysts in terms of their activity for methylene blue (MB) degradation under UV light irradiation. Ten parallel photocatalyst screening reactions were achieved within 15 min in the multi-channel chip. We also examined nine element doped TiO2 materials to investigate the doping effects of different elements on TiO2. Compared with conventional systems, the photocatalyst consumption (0.1 mg) in the present system was significantly reduced at least 100 times. High reaction rate in chip microreactors was obtained with an increase of two orders of magnitude over bulk reactors. The miniaturization of the photocatalytic reaction on the microchip significantly improves the reaction rates, reduces the sample and reagent consumptions, and increases the throughput of screening for multiple catalyst samples in parallel. The present work provides a novel application for microfluidic chip-based analytical systems, as well as a rapid, highly-efficient and low-consumption method for screening of photocatalysts.