Abstract
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.
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•Direct stereolithographic fabrication of monolithic heterogeneous photocatalysts.•Compatible with commercial resins and stereolithographic apparatus printers.•Rapid access to non-commercially available structures which improved gas-liquid mixing in flow.•Successful application as heterogeneous photosensitisers demonstrated via generation of 1O2 under visible light irradiation.•1O2 mediated oxidation of aqueous furoic acid to 5-hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone achieved in flow.