Self-adaptive Polymer Reactor Made of Flytrap-Inspired Catalytic Bi-layers, Capable of Single-Tandem-Single Triple-Shift Catalytic Ability.

The present endeavor is to develop a highly-intelligent catalyst prototype which is able to autonomously adapt to the environment and provide an in-situ triple-shift catalytic function. By searching strategies from the nature, this objective is gained by developing a self-adaptive polymer reactor which held Venus flytrap-inspired catalytic bi-layers capable of reverse thermo-responsive properties. The first layer was fabricated with a negatively-thermo-responsive imprinted polymer and embedded metal nanoparticles which were responsible for catalytic reduction. In contrast, the second layer was made of a positively-thermo-responsive polymer containing acidic groups, which were capable of catalytic hydrolysis. This reactor presented individually one single catalytic process at relatively low temperatures and high temperatures because one of the simple layers validated. This reactor presented nevertheless the tandem catalytic ability due to the simultaneous work of the two layers at modest temperatures. With increasing temperatures, the catalytic bi-layers of this reactor would function in a sequential way (i.e., one simple layer, both layers and then another simple layer) and as a result led to the single-tandem-single triple-shift catalytic ability. The protocol of this reactor shares a prospect with developing manipulatable catalytic paradigms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]