Low Heat Capacity 3D Hollow Microarchitected Reactors for Thermal and Fluid Applications

Seok Kim, Sang-Hoon Nam, Seokho Kim, Young Tae Cho and Nicholas X. Fang
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Seok Kim: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Changwon National University, Changwon 51140, Korea
Sang-Hoon Nam: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Seokho Kim: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Changwon National University, Changwon 51140, Korea
Young Tae Cho: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Changwon National University, Changwon 51140, Korea
Nicholas X. Fang: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 11, 1-15

Abstract: Lightweight reactor materials that simultaneously possess low heat capacity and large surface area are desirable for various applications such as catalytic supports, heat exchangers, and biological scaffolds. However, they are challenging to satisfy this criterion originating from their structural property in most porous cellular solids. Microlattices have great potential to resolve this issue in directing transport phenomena because of their hierarchically ordered design and controllable geometrical features such as porosity, specific surface, and tortuosity. In this study, we report hollow ceramic microlattices comprising a 10 ?m thick hollow nickel oxide beam in an octet-truss architecture with low heat capacity and high specific surface area. Our microarchitected reactors exhibited a low heat capacity for a rapid thermal response with a small Biot number (Bi << 1) and large intertwined surface area for homogeneous flow mixing and chemical reactions, which made them ideal candidates for various energy applications. The hollow ceramic microlattice was fabricated by digital light three-dimensional (3D) printing, composite electroless plating, polymer removal, and subsequent thermal annealing. The transient thermal response and fluidic properties of the 3D-printed microstructures were experimentally investigated using a small-scale thermal and fluid test system, and analytically interpreted using simplified models. Our findings indicate that hollow microarchitected reactors provide a promising platform for developing multifunctional materials for thermal and fluid applications.

Keywords: ultralight ceramic microlattices; architected materials; hollow microlattice; fast thermal response; high surface area (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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