This book presents a comprehensive review, analysis and synthesis of the advances in nanoreactors and their innovative applications in sustainable energy, environmental, and biomedical processes. It begins with an overview of bioinspired materials and artificial devices, followed by a detailed explanation of the definition and basic structural characteristics of nanoreactors. It focuses on key synthetic strategies for controlling the size, composition, morphology, and functionalisation of nanoreactors. The distinctive structure-activity relationships, including spatial limiting effects, pore selective/confinement effects, and isolation-synergy effects of active species at a cross-scale level, are reviewed and thoroughly discussed. A range of innovative applications of nanoreactors in catalysis, biomedical separation and reactions, wastewater treatment, and energy conversion and storage is examined. Finally, major bottlenecks and challenges in structural optimization will be highlighted and future design schemes and research frontiers in this burgeoning field proposed.
Professor Jian Liu is Chair Professor and Dean at School of Chemistry and ChemicalEngineering, Inner Mongolia University, China. He received his PhD degree in physicalchemistry from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), Chinese Academy of Sciences,China in 2009. He was then a Research Fellow at University of Queensland, Australia;Senior Lecturer at Curtin University, Australia; Reader at University of Surrey, UK; and FullProfessor at DICP. His research focuses on the design of micro-nanoreactors, porouscarbon spheres, and industrialisation of homogeneous catalysis in heterogeneous systems.He has published more than 350 peer-reviewed journal articles, which have been cited forover 35,000 times, and holds 10 patents. His h-index is 90, and he was listed as aClarivate™ Highly Cited Researcher for six consecutive years from 2018–2023. He is theco-Editor-in-Chief of
Materials Today Sustainability (Elsevier, impact factor 7.1).
Professor Gaoqing Max Lu AO DL FREng FRSC FIChemE FAA FTSE FNAI is President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wollongong, Australia; Emeritus Professor of the University of Surrey, UK, where he was President and Vice-Chancellor from April 2016 to May 2025; and Emeritus Professor of the University of Queensland, Australia, where he was Provost and Senior Vice-President. He was a member of the UK Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology, and served as Director of the Board of UK National Physical Laboratory, and Director of UK Research and Innovation.
As a Clarivate™ Highly Cited Researcher in both Materials Science and Chemistry, Professor Lu has published over 600 journal papers on nanomaterials, photocatalysis, hydrogen production and storage, with a h-index of 162 and over 100,000 citations. He is a co-inventor of 25 international patents. He has been honoured with numerous awards including the Orica Award, RK Murphy Medal, Le Fevre Prize, ExxonMobil Award, China International Science and Technology Award, Japan Chemical Society Lecture Award, P V Danckwerts Lecture, and Chemeca Medal — the highest honour in Australia and New Zealand in chemical engineering. He was named a Queensland Great in 2013 and one of Australia's Top 100 Most Influential Engineers (2010–2014).
Professor Lu is an elected Fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, UK Royal Society of Chemistry, UK Institution of Chemical Engineers, Australian Academy of Science, Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, and US National Academy of Inventors. He is also appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia, and Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Surrey, England by Queen Elizabeth II.
