Three-dimensional-printed holistic reactors with fractal structure for heterogeneous reaction

Holistic catalytic reactors with fractal structures have attracted growing attention in heterogeneous reactions because of their advantages of improved mass transfer and easy separation. Herein, a cost-efficient and straightforward design strategy that combined three-dimensional printing and electroless deposition was presented to construct dynamic, holistic stirred reactors with the fractal structure. The conversion factor α of the fractal impeller is 65.01 mmol m −2 h −1 with a large volume of reactant (80 ml), which is 1.7 times that of the normal impeller with the same loading of Ag catalysts. Experimental results and simulation analysis demonstrate that the fractal impeller significantly improves the catalytic performance by enhancing mass transfer and spatial dispersion in the reaction. Moreover, the holistic impeller could be reused 10 times without obvious loss of catalytic performance, and easily separated from the reaction system. The structural design of fractal reactors will open the way for high-efficiency dynamic heterogeneous catalytic reactors.