<p>Since
conventional catalysts are materials-based, they are effective only for particular
chemical reactions. Recent studies suggest that vacuum-field catalysis (or cavity
catalysis) based on vibrational light-matter coupling can boost reactions
without the above constraint. Herein, we propose a reaction kinetic model for
such vacuum-field-catalyzed reactions. Vibrational light-matter coupling is an interaction
in which a molecular vibration and infrared (IR) vacuum field are coupled in
resonance, consequently creating a pair of Rabi-split vibro-polaritonic states.
Our kinetic model hypothesizes that vibrational light-matter coupling reshapes
the reaction potential surface, thereby changing its reaction barrier height. We
translate such a qualitative picture into two kinds of analytical equations derived
from the Arrhenius and Eyring–Polanyi theories: both the equations are obtained
as a function of the coupling ratio Ω<sub>R</sub>/2<i>ω</i><sub>0</sub> of vibro-polaritons (Ω<sub>R</sub>: Rabi frequency
between a pair of vibro-polaritons, <i>ω</i><sub>0</sub>:
vibrational frequency of reactants), indicating that Ω<sub>R</sub>/2<i>ω</i><sub>0</sub> is a decisive quantity to define
the catalytic activity of vacuum-field catalysis. Our numerical calculation shows
that when Ω<sub>R</sub>/2<i>ω</i><sub>0</sub>
≥ 0.1, reactions may be accelerated by several orders of magnitude. Most
importantly, our kinetic model can account well for rate enhancements ranging from
~10<sup>0</sup> to ~10<sup>4</sup> observed
for vacuum-field-catalyzed reactions. We expect that our findings will bring fresh
perspectives not only to chemistry but also to the broad fields of science and
technology.</p>
A detailed reaction kinetic model of light naphtha isomerization on Pt/zeolite catalyst
