Design and Fabrication of Chitosan for Application of Artificial Photosynthesis

Artificial photosynthesis is a new approach to generate sustainable energy. In order to constrain reaction solution in a solid state structure and increase the reaction efficiency in artificial photosynthesis reactions, we presented two methods to fabricate the chitosan scaffold with interconnected micro channels as construction structure of a novel artificial photosynthesis device. We built 3D chitosan structure with a home-made heterogeneous 3D rapid prototyping machine, and we used lyophilization method to generate the micron-scale pores inside the chitosan scaffold. Chitosan in acetic acid could achieve different viscosities. We found a proper chitosan recipe to construct 3D scaffold by our own rapid prototyping machine. Optional support material sodium bicarbonate was used in printing 3D scaffold for holding the printed structures, and the results images indicate that this method can make the scaffold stronger and more stable.