Nature Communications · 19 October 2026 · From issue 54
Closed-loop photoreactor design enabled by machine learning and digital twins
A computer model guided the design of a light reactor that evenly lights 16 vials at once.
Jasper H. A. Schuurmans, Miguel Claros et al.
Light-driven chemistry depends on getting light to hit the reaction mix evenly, but reactor shapes are hard to design by hand. Scientists built a computer copy of a photoreactor, checked it against real light measurements, and used a smart search program to test shapes and layouts. They found shapes that spread light evenly across 16 reaction vials while capturing more light overall. Real chemical reactions run in the new design matched what the computer predicted.
The number of reaction vials the optimized reactor lights evenly at the same time.
One reactor design, one reaction tested, lab only so far.
Integrity screen: passed (3 checks) Checked 20 October 2026. Retraction record: none. DOI resolves at doi.org. Metadata record found (Nature Communications). Read the source
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