Additive Manufacturing of Gd-Doped CeO₂ Architectures via a Custom-Developed Printable Ceramic Resin for Ethanol Catalytic Partial Oxidation

Author(s):

Gene Yang, Jiangtian Li, and Deryn Chu

Abstract:

The development of compact and durable hydrogen generation systems for field-operable applications requires catalyst designs that integrate high activity, structural robustness, and resistance to carbon deposition. Here, we demonstrate that hydrogen production performance in ethanol catalytic partial oxidation is governed not only by catalyst chemistry, but also by how that chemistry is implemented within a reactor-relevant 3D architecture. A custom, printable gadolinium (Gd)-doped CeO₂ (GDC) ceramic resin was developed to enable stereolithography-based additive manufacturing of oxygen-vacancy-rich ceramic architectures. Using a consistent Ni–Ru–GDC catalyst system, architectural effects were systematically evaluated by comparing powder catalysts, dip-coated commercial ceramic honeycombs, and additively manufactured GDC architectures. While powder catalysts and dip-coated Al₂O₃ honeycombs exhibited comparable hydrogen production rates, the 3D-printed GDC honeycomb architecture delivered substantially enhanced hydrogen productivity. This performance improvement is attributed to the integration of redox-active, oxygen-vacancy-rich GDC as an architectural material, enabling uniform distribution of catalytic functionality throughout the macroscopic structure. Overall, this work establishes a practical, vendor-independent pathway for translating proven catalyst chemistries into structured, field-deployable reforming components and highlights the importance of architecture-aware catalyst design enabled by additive manufacturing.