DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/catal11010064<br />

Summary
Most of the catalytic processes that assist the production of either renewable energy vectors or degradation of environmental pollutants rely on the interplay among different factors that can be purposely regulated, in order to improve the overall efficiency of reactions. This perspective analyzes some recent examples of ‘systemic catalysts’, which are based on the modification of the reaction microenvironment and exploitation of concurrent/parasitic reactions or different types of chemical looping, in order to bypass some drawbacks that cannot be easily circumvented by standard approaches. Innovative extensions of those concepts and strategies might inspire new breakthroughs in a variety of key catalytic cycles characterized by high complexity

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge
The authors discussed some examples (reported in a period from 2017 to 2020) of catalytic processes in complex systems, focusing the attention on approaches and strategies that are able to exploit such a complexity for improving catalytic performance. The correct design of a catalytic system can be obtained combining the ability on control and manipulate the local microenvironment and the use of smart catalyst that are able to adapt and respond to external stimuli. From one side the design of novel catalytic system could take advantage by the bio-inspiration from the other side from the development of machine lerning and the artificial intelligence -based algorithms that are currently used for the individuation of the best combination of materials and compositions for heterogeneous catalysis

Point of Strength
A particularly interesting evidence reported by the author is that, “in some cases, detrimental factors, such as the formation of byproducts or the presence of contaminants, can be turned into useful, or even key, ingredients for improving the efficiency of the overall catalytic process. This kind of symbiosis could become a new paradigm in the design of catalysts, also for environmental remediation, which is an inherently complex field.”