Fiber-based plasmonic microreactor for flow chemistry

The chemical industry’s substantial energy use calls for disruptive and innovative technologies with significantly enhanced sustainability. While photo flow reactors offer promise, existing designs struggle with efficient photon utilization. Here, we present a specialty optical fiber designed to act as a flow reactor with smart light management. The fiber guides light in a ring core surrounding a 105 μm hollow reaction volume. We decorate the walls of the reaction volume with plasmonic nanoparticles that transduce the photon energy to the chemical reaction inside the fiber. To microfluidically access the fiber, we drill 10 μm holes through the fiber wall that act as in- and outlets. Future work will focus on assembling an all-fiber microreactor and its commissioning for flow photocatalysis.