Catalytic oxidation properties of 3D printed ceramics with Bouligand structures

A novel bioinspired strategy was proposed by coupling 3D printing with surface modification, which was employed to build the programmable helicoidal catalytic ceramics and improve the catalytic performance. Specially, the prepared helicoidal catalytic ceramic was able to transform the airflow direction, thereby prolonging the contact time between the gas and the catalyst for improving the catalytic efficiency. Thus, 3D printing integrating with biomimetic Bouligand structure offer promising capabilities to design creatively helicoidal catalytic ceramics, which is of great significance for the development of biomimetic catalytic materials in the future. [Display omitted] •3D printed helicoidal ceramic devices with Bouligand structure were realized.•The surface modification endows the devices with excellent catalytic properties.•Excellent reusability and long-term stability were obtained for the ceramic device. Bouligand structure composed of twist-aligned nanofiber lamina as one typical biological skeleton is widely presented in various organism. Inspired by this, a strategy was proposed by coupling a novel method of 3D printing with surface modification, attempting to build the programmable helicoidal catalytic ceramics and then improving the catalytic performance. In this work, the biomimetic Bouligand architectures with different pitch angles (α), where the pitch angle is defined as the rotational angle of two adjacent twisted layer filaments, were built. Typically, the construction of bioinspired helicoidal catalytic ceramics with Bouligand structure can be divided into two steps, including the 3D printing of unidirectionally aligning ceramic filaments helical stacked helicoidal Al2O3 ceramics, and the surface functionalization of platinum (Pt) catalysts. To this end, we designed and fabricated several helicoidal catalytic ceramics with pitch angles (α) of 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90° for exploring the catalytic performances of toluene vapor, and the acquired corresponding toluene conversions at 200 °C were 92.51%, 92.46%, 90.67%, and 78.51%, respectively. Furthermore, as an optimal twisted helicoidal catalytic ceramic device rotated from 0° to 180° with a pitch angle of 30°, the conversion of toluene at 200 °C can reach 95.52%, and exhibited excellent catalytic activity, favorable repeatability, and superior water resistance in the process of toluene oxidation. Thus, the prepared helicoidal catalytic ceramic was employed to transform the airflow direction, t