A review of adsorption materials and their application of 3D printing technology in the separation process

As a rapid prototyping technology, 3D printing has become one of the key technologies as the adsorption forming strategy due to the diversity and convenience in structural design. More importantly, 3D printing can optimize the mass and heat transfer processes during adsorption by manipulating the structure of 3D-printed adsorbents. In the preparation of 3D-printed monolithic adsorbents, the properties of materials are the key factors in the 3D printing process. In this paper, various 3D printing technologies were classified according to the printing of different adsorption materials. And the 3D-printing strategies combined with different adsorbent materials, including surface impregnation, in situ growth, mixing, etc., were comprehensively reviewed in detail. Subsequently, the effect of 3D printing structure on the adsorption process was discussed. Additionally, the prospect and challenges of 3D printing for the application of adsorption materials were discussed. This review can be conducive to better understand the 3D printing strategy for preparing monolithic adsorption materials and promoting their potential practical applications.