Print Email Facebook Twitter 3D Printed Scaffolds for Monolithic Aerogel Photocatalysts with Complex Geometries Title 3D Printed Scaffolds for Monolithic Aerogel Photocatalysts with Complex Geometries Author Schreck, Murielle (ETH Zürich) Kleger, Nicole (ETH Zürich) Matter, Fabian (ETH Zürich) Kwon, Junggou (ETH Zürich) Tervoort, Elena (ETH Zürich) Masania, K. (TU Delft Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies; ETH Zürich) Studart, André R. (ETH Zürich) Niederberger, Markus (ETH Zürich) Date 2021 Abstract Monolithic aerogels composed of crystalline nanoparticles enable photocatalysis in three dimensions, but they suffer from low mechanical stability and it is difficult to produce them with complex geometries. Here, an approach to control the geometry of the photocatalysts to optimize their photocatalytic performance by introducing carefully designed 3D printed polymeric scaffolds into the aerogel monoliths is reported. This allows to systematically study and improve fundamental parameters in gas phase photocatalysis, such as the gas flow through and the ultraviolet light penetration into the aerogel and to customize its geometric shape to a continuous gas flow reactor. Using photocatalytic methanol reforming as a model reaction, it is shown that the optimization of these parameters leads to an increase of the hydrogen production rate by a factor of three from 400 to 1200 µmol g−1 h−1. The rigid scaffolds also enhance the mechanical stability of the aerogels, lowering the number of rejects during synthesis and facilitating handling during operation. The combination of nanoparticle-based aerogels with 3D printed polymeric scaffolds opens up new opportunities to tailor the geometry of the photocatalysts for the photocatalytic reaction and for the reactor to maximize overall performance without necessarily changing the material composition. Subject 3D printingaerogelshydrogen productionnanoparticlesphotocatalysisTiO To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:649a2541-bfa7-4dd3-80ae-bf2aaa14a271 DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202104089 ISSN 1613-6810 Source Small (online), 17 (50) Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2021 Murielle Schreck, Nicole Kleger, Fabian Matter, Junggou Kwon, Elena Tervoort, K. Masania, André R. Studart, Markus Niederberger Files PDF Small_2021_Schreck_3D_Pri ... etries.pdf 2.4 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:649a2541-bfa7-4dd3-80ae-bf2aaa14a271/datastream/OBJ/view