University of Sydney team releases 3D printable open-source electrochemical reactor

Researchers from the University of Sydney and the ARC Center of Excellence for Carbon Science and Innovation have published a fully open-source, 3D printable gas diffusion electrode (GDE) reactor platform, which is designed to lower the cost and complexity of electrocatalyst testing in both research and educational settings.

The platform has been named openGDE, or bayadjamara, meaning “air maker” in Gadi language, and was developed to confront a common issue in electrochemistry research. 

GDE catalysts are typically evaluated in standard aqueous three-electrode setups. That method can skew performance data either too high or too low, and that leads to premature exclusion of viable candidates or unprofitable further investigation. 

Commercial GDE test reactors exist but are expensive, non-standardized, and limited in adaptability, and while a number of 3D printed GDE reactors have previously been produced, the researchers stated they were unaware of any that made design files publicly available.

Print it yourself — on almost any machine

The reactor was designed to be printable on hobbyist-grade fused deposition modeling printers. Polylactic acid (PLA) was recommended as the primary filament due to its broad chemical resistance and ease of use, and resin-based printing was also tested, with the reactor holding pressure up to 4 barg. FDM prints achieved between 2.5 barg untreated and 3.5 barg after vapor smoothing.

One GDE|GDE reactor made of PLA ran continuously for over 90 days without cracking or leaking, and a batch of 16 GDE chambers can be produced in a single nine-hour overnight print, according to the researchers. The stated complete bill of materials for a 1-cm² GDE|GDE benchmarking reactor came in at less than AU $2 ($0.70).

All design files are archived on GitHub and Zenodo, with a customizer tool allowing modification of reactor dimensions and that do not require CAD experience. The platform was successfully assembled by three independent researchers across five different printers.

“OpenGDE/bayadjamara is a fully open-source, 3D printed reactor designed for electrochemistry, with special capability for gas diffusion electrodes and membrane electrode assemblies,” said Christopher Barnett, Research Fellow at the University of Sydney’s Laboratory of Advanced Catalysis for Sustainability.

“The entire design aims to make this kind of experimentation far more accessible to researchers, students, and anyone curious about electrochemical systems. All files, along with detailed build instructions, are available in the supporting information — so anyone can build, modify, and adapt the reactor to their needs.”

The research findings were published in the Australian Journal of Chemistry.