Formation mechanism of dynamic liquid membranes for cellulose hydrolysis

Multi-phase system liquid membrane provides a promising pathway for cellulose efficient catalytic depolymerization to gain green biomass-based platform compounds. Liquid membrane catalysis possesses advantages of both mass transfer enhancement and selective separation of components, emphasizing the importance of a systematic understanding of the liquid membrane formation mechanism in cellulose hydrolysis. Here, the formation and evolution processes of the dynamic liquid membranes on a cellulose particle were explored, showing an exponential function between liquid membrane coverage and cellulose particle interface hydrophilicity. The coupling effect of cellulose hydrophily and liquid–gas density ratio on dynamic liquid membrane morphology was described by an empirical correlation. This work expects to enable detailed investigations of controlled dynamic liquid membrane catalysis systems.