The donor/acceptor interface properties play vital roles not only for singlet exciton dissociation but also to suppress the free charge recombination enabling state-of-the-art device fill factors (FFs).

Gold catalysts were prepared on TiO₂ supports of different phase structures (i.e., anatase, rutile and biphasic), TiO₂ crystal size (i.e., 9–23 nm), surface and textural properties (i.e., hydration and surface area). The CO oxidation on the gold catalysts was carried out in an operando-DRIFTS set-up equipped with DRIFTS reactor cell connected on-line to CO gas analyser and gas chromatograph enabling real time monitoring of surface reaction and simultaneous reaction rate measurements. Gold catalysts supported on pure anatase TiO₂ were more resistant to sintering compared to catalysts supported on rutile and bi-phasic TiO₂. Besides catalyst sintering, deposition of surface carbonates is an important cause of catalyst deactivation. The best gold catalyst was prepared on 13 nm anatase TiO₂. It displays both increased activity and stability for CO oxidation reaction at room temperature. Surface and textural properties of TiO₂ also play a role on the performance of the Au/TiO₂ catalyst.

A multi-channel membrane microreactor was fabricated and tested for Knoevenagel condensation of benzaldehyde and ethyl cyanoacetate using Cs-exchanged faujasite NaX as the catalyst; the membrane microreactor achieves supra-eqiulibrium conversion at higher product purity.