Additive manufacturing of intricate and inherently photocatalytic flow reactor components

A 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-based photosensitiser has been successfully incorporated into a commercially available 3D printing resin and utilised to fabricate inherently photocatalytic flow reactor components. The freedom of design provided by additive manufacturing enabled the production of photoactive monolith structures with intricate architectures, imparting functionality for heterogeneous photocatalysis and interesting manipulation of fluid dynamics within a fixed bed reactor column. The resultant monoliths were applied and validated in the photosensitisation of singlet oxygen in aqueous media, under continuous flow conditions and visible light irradiation (420 nm). The photo-generated singlet oxygen cleanly converted furoic acid to the γ-lactone, 5-hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone, with a peak space-time yield of 2.34 mmol m⁻² h⁻¹ achieved using the Voronoi monolith.