MOFs functionalization of 3D printed mullite complex architectures for CO2 capture

Anthropogenic emissions of green-house gases and increasing CO atmospheric concentration are considered the major causes of global warming and ocean acidification. Carbon capture and sequestration turned out to be a valuable strategy to help mitigating these problems, making it urgent to develop novel materials able to selectively capture CO. Thus, in the present experimental study, a new system for CO capture based on porous mullite (3AlO⋅2SiO) substrates fabricated by Digital Light Processing and properly functionalized with Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) was developed. Printable ceramic pastes were obtained by mixing in proper amounts commercial mullite powders to a photocurable commercial resin with a dispersant and a sintering additive to optimize the rheological behaviour, printability, and solid loading. Then, different geometries were successfully shaped with high accuracy: bars, pellets, as well as monoliths with two structures, grid-like and Schwartz primitive triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS).