Nanoporous Cu-based metamaterial for fenton-like catalysis

Nanoporous metals are considered as the ideal catalysts owing to their open pore structure and high surface area. In the present work, a series of nanoporous Cu-based metamaterial (nano-Cu/MM) catalysts with triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) were developed by the selective laser melting (SLM) and chemical dealloying process. The TPMS structure endowed the porous metamaterial with an excellent mechanical property and an abundant pathway for mass transfer. The as-prepared nano-Cu/MM was applied as a Fenton-like catalyst in the advanced oxidation process, and the degradation rate of methylene blue (MB) was as high as 99 % in 10 min. In addition, the catalyst showed a good applicability, which could effectively degrade the complex dyes and tetracycline drugs. To meet the practical application, a TPMS-structured coaxial circular with nanoporous structure was designed and prepared by the same process, which could be simply assembled with an electric motor to achieve a continuous catalytic degradation, demonstrating its potential for the industrial applications.