Tailored 3D Lattice SAPO-34/S-PEEK Composite Sorbents by Additive Manufacturing for Sorption Heat Transformation Applications

TL;DR

Researchers created a 3D-printed composite material for energy conversion that efficiently adsorbs and desorbs water vapor.

Contribution

A novel 3D lattice composite of SAPO-34 and S-PEEK was fabricated without reinforcement for sorption heat transformation.

Findings

The composite structure showed good adsorption/desorption capacity for water vapor at low pressures.

Tailored lattice structures were successfully produced using additive manufacturing without metal or plastic support.

Morphological analysis confirmed the structural integrity of the 3D-printed composite.

Abstract

The development of high-performance adsorbent materials is crucial for any sorption-based energy conversion process. In such a context, composite sorbent materials, although promising in terms of performance and stability, are often challenging to shape into complex geometries. Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, has emerged as a powerful technique for fabricating intricate structures with tailored properties. In this paper, an innovative three-dimensional structure, constituted by zeolite as filler and sulfonated polyether ether ketone as matrix, was obtained using additive manufacturing technology, which is mainly suitable for sorption-based energy conversion processes. The lattice structure was tailored in order to optimize the synthesis procedure and material stability. The complex three-dimensional lattice structure was obtained without a metal or plastic reinforcement support. The composite structure was evaluated to assess its structural integrity using morphological analysis. Furthermore, the adsorption/desorption capacity was evaluated using water-vapor adsorption isobars at 11 mbar at equilibrium in the temperature range 30–120 °C, confirming good adsorption/desorption capacity.

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