From electromagnetic field-material interactions to intensified chemical manufacturing via microwave catalysis

Microwave catalysis provides an electrified route for chemical manufacturing, reshaping temperature fields, reaction kinetics, and reactor design across length scales. Despite clear gains in reaction rate, selectivity, and stability, industrial translation remains limited by several constraints spanning shallow penetration depth in strongly absorbing media, limited availability of in situ temperature sensors with sub-millimeter resolution above 400 °C, sparse permittivity datasets above 500 °C, multimode cavity field nonuniformity, and lack of validated CAPEX models for industrial hardware. This review discusses these barriers by focusing on dielectric physics, temperature diagnostics, catalytic performance, materials design, reactor engineering, and techno-economic analysis. Spectroscopy, temperature sensing, and modeling increasingly attribute reported MW-specific effects to unresolved temperature heterogeneity. This evidence shifts the research priority toward accurate temperature measurement and field control. We discuss emerging microwave reactor strategies including multifunctional redox materials, structured reactors that extend effective penetration depth, and scale-up. Resolving sensing, materials, and reactor design limitations would position microwave catalysis as a scalable platform for intensified, electrified, and low-carbon chemical manufacturing in applications where selective heating and modular deployment provide decisive advantages.