A chemical reactor for inductive heating has a non-conductive reactor wall (104) defining an interior (106) of the reactor, a conductive electromagnetic metamaterial susceptor (102) having an open cell 3D lattice structure distributed throughout a volumetric region within the interior of the reactor, electromagnetic coils (100) surrounding the susceptor, and a power supply (116) connected to the electromagnetic coils and adapted to produce AC electrical power at a predetermined operating frequency, thereby generating an electromagnetic field having a predetermined wavelength causing inductive heating of the susceptor. The susceptor has a predetermined effective AC conductivity response Gefr as a predetermined function of position within the volumetric region at the predetermined operating frequency.