Bio‐Inspired Self‐Activating Polydimethylsiloxane‐Modified CrOx/Al2O3 Catalyst for Acetylene Semi‐Hydrogenation

Biomimetic approach is a nature‐driven strategy for designing functional materials to meet the industrial challenges. Here we demonstrate the bio‐inspired discovery of a self‐activating catalyst, with polydimethylsiloxane anchored over the surface of CrOx/Al2O3, exhibiting comparable performance with noble metallic catalysts for acetylene semi‐hydrogenation. In addition, the dynamic movement of polymer chains with high flexibility renders the catalyst to impose proactive perturbation to the undesired coke precursors generated in reaction, analogous to the function of hair‐like cilia on the surface of respiratory epithelial cells, thus avoiding the site‐blocking induced by carbonaceous deposits and sustaining the catalyst stable for 1000 h without any deactivation. This study paves the way to the develop other heterogeneous catalysts with high efficiency and durability via mimicking the innate defense mechanism of natural organism.