Catalysis refers to the chemical phenomenon where a catalyst accelerates or decelerates a chemical reaction by lowering the activation energy and altering the reaction pathway. Its principle is based on the Arrhenius equation; the catalyst increases the reaction rate by participating in the reaction, lowering the activation energy, or changing the pre-exponential factor. Specifically, it can be classified into homogeneous catalysis, heterogeneous catalysis, biocatalysis, and autocatalysis. Acid-base catalysis is a reaction type using acids and bases as catalysts, and it is divided into homogeneous and heterogeneous forms. The former includes liquid-phase reactions such as the catalytic hydration of ethylene and sulfuric acid to ethanol, while the latter covers solid-phase catalytic processes such as petroleum cracking.
In the field of biocatalysis, the "four-amino acid scanning" strategy is used to improve enzyme catalytic efficiency. The frontier molecular orbital theory is introduced into the design of single-atom catalysts to construct hydrogenation catalysts with both high activity and high stability. In photocatalysis materials, a double S-type heterojunction Bi7O9I3/Cd0.5Zn0.5S QDs/WO3-x has been developed to achieve complete degradation of phenol under full-spectrum response. Carbon quantum dot-modified g-C3N4/BiOIO3 heterojunctions exhibit significant performance improvements in the field of carbon dioxide photocatalytic reduction.
