Symes, M.D. , Kitson, P.J., Yan, J., Richmond, C., Cooper, G.J.T. , Bowman, R.W., Vilbrandt, T. and Cronin, L. (2012) Integrated 3D-printed reactionware for chemical synthesis and analysis. Nature Chemistry, 4, pp. 349-354. (doi: 10.1038/nchem.1313)
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Abstract
Three-dimensional (3D) printing has the potential to transform science and technology by creating bespoke, low-cost appliances that previously required dedicated facilities to make. An attractive, but unexplored, application is to use a 3D printer to initiate chemical reactions by printing the reagents directly into a 3D reactionware matrix, and so put reactionware design, construction and operation under digital control. Here, using a low-cost 3D printer and open-source design software we produced reactionware for organic and inorganic synthesis, which included printed-in catalysts and other architectures with printed-in components for electrochemical and spectroscopic analysis. This enabled reactions to be monitored in situ so that different reactionware architectures could be screened for their efficacy for a given process, with a digital feedback mechanism for device optimization. Furthermore, solely by modifying reactionware architecture, reaction outcomes can be altered. Taken together, this approach constitutes a relatively cheap, automated and reconfigurable chemical discovery platform that makes techniques from chemical engineering accessible to typical synthetic laboratories.
Item Type: | Articles |
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Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Yan, Mr Jun and Kitson, Dr Philip and Richmond, Mr Craig and Symes, Professor Mark and Cooper, Dr Geoff and Cronin, Professor Lee |
Authors: | Symes, M.D., Kitson, P.J., Yan, J., Richmond, C., Cooper, G.J.T., Bowman, R.W., Vilbrandt, T., and Cronin, L. |
Subjects: | Q Science > QD Chemistry |
College/School: | College of Science and Engineering > School of Chemistry |
Journal Name: | Nature Chemistry |
ISSN: | 1755-4330 |
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