3D-Printed Electrolyzer for the Conversion of Glycerol into Tartronate on Pd Nanocubes

Glycerol is a massive byproduct of biodiesel fabrication, which decreases its price and increases the risks of inadequate disposal. In this sense, more environmentally friendly instruments and processes using glycerol are required to make this matrix more valuable. Here, a 3D-printed electrolyzer was developed and tested for long-period glycerol electrolysis in an alkaline medium. The new electrolyzer contains only three mobile parts and can be manufactured in less than 4 h using similar to 30 g of polylactic acid filament, with a total cost of less than US $5. This easily built and inexpensive reduced-scale electrolyzer has the advantage of using only a few milliliters of solution to perform tests for electrosynthesis. We synthesized Pd nanocubes to modify a glassy carbon working electrode, which was used for glycerol electrolysis. We found a remarkable selectivity of 99% toward tartronate production, which was induced by the extended (100) surface of Pd in the alkaline medium. Hence, we report a new 3D-printed platform for electrosynthesis and a new clean one-step method to produce tartronate.