Optical Fiber Chemical Catalysis

This paper introduces Optical Fiber Chemistry (OFC) as a fourth-generation catalytic paradigm, distinguished not by incremental improvements in catalyst materials but by a fundamental reconfiguration of the catalytic reaction platform. By employing optical fibers as active photonic control elements, OFC achieves gen- uine coplanar coupling of photons, electrons, and ions within a single membrane electrode, thereby overcoming the intrinsic spatial separation that limits conven- tional thermal catalysis, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and photoelectrochemical systems. This architecture establishes an essential physical foundation for pro- grammable chemistry and artificial intelligence–driven chemical systems. Optical Fiber Chemical Catalysis (OFC) represents the most substantial ad- vance in photo–electro and multi-field synergistic catalysis since the seminal demon- stration of photoelectrochemical water splitting by Fujishima and Honda in 1972. Here, we define the concepts of optical fiber chemistry and optical fiber chemi- cal catalysis, delineate their fundamental elements, and formulate the underlying catalytic laws. The OFC framework enables economical, safe, efficient, and high– energy-density scale-up or distributed deployment of optical fiber chemical reaction units, forming modular optical fiber chemical stacks. Moreover, the OFC platform allows chemical reaction processes to be programmably regulated and serves as a core chemical platform for artificial intelligence laboratories and intelligent chemical manufacturing. Catalytic principle: The central feature of OFC is a sandwich-structured optical-fiber membrane electrode, in which rational structural design enables the synergistic coupling of optical fields, electric fields, and proton/ion transport path- ways at a single reaction interface. Within this architecture, photons, electrons, protons, ions, catalysts, reactants, and products coexist at the same interface, allowing photonic excitation and charge separation to occur synchronously and thereby markedly enhancing catalytic efficiency. On the basis of these principles, optical fiber chemical catalysis is expected to enable key reactions—including am- monia synthesis, noble-metal-free fuel cells, organic synthesis, and pharmaceutical manufacturing—under ambient temperature and pressure. Over the next decade, OFC is anticipated to emerge as a major technological route in chemical engineering and catalysis.