α-Alumina membrane having a hierarchical structure of straight macropores and mesopores inside the pore wall

Abstract

We prepared a through-hole α-alumina membrane with a hierarchical porous structure from an anodic porous alumina membrane prepared using phosphoric acid electrolyte as the starting material. By heating the anodic porous alumina membrane to 1400°C, aluminum phosphate nanoparticles were segregated in the α-alumina matrix at the anion-incorporated outer layer and the high-purity alumina layer forming a cell boundary band sintered as a high-density α-alumina layer at the central core of the pore wall. When the heat-treated membrane was immersed in concentrated hydrochloric acid, a unique hierarchical porous α-alumina membrane structure was formed with straight macropores and mesopores inside the pore wall due to the dissolution of aluminum phosphate nanoparticles. The developed α-alumina membrane can be ultimately used as a multifunctional filter because of its unique hierarchical porous structure and extremely high chemical and thermal durability.