Deposition of titanium carbide catalytic films on vanadium foils by ion beam sputtering for hydrogen separation and purification

Abstract

Titanium carbide (TiC) catalytic films were deposited on vanadium (V) foils by ion beam sputtering (IBS) technique for hydrogen purification. The effect of sputtering temperature in the IBS process on the phase structure and catalytic property of the TiC catalytic films and the hydrogen permeation performance of TiC/V composite membranes was investigated. The carbon vacancy density of TiC films increases with the sputtering temperature, resulting in increasing catalytic property of TiC films and hydrogen permeation performance of TiC/V composite membranes. At sputtering temperature of 400 °C, the TiC/V composite membranes exhibit highest hydrogen permeability (∼9.5 × 10−8 mol H2 m−1 s−1 Pa−0.5) at 650 °C and excellent stability during the thermal cycles at 450–650 °C.