Abstract
Micro-porous yttria doped silica membrane, fabricated on alpha-alumina substrate and gamma-alumina interlayer, has been prepared via the polymeric sol–gel method. In order to investigate the hydrothermal stability of the membrane, silica sols with different amounts of 5, 15 and 25wt% yttria were prepared. These sols showed particle size distributions in the range of 0.6–3nm. It was found that the hydrothermal stability of the unsupported silica–15% yttria membrane heat treated at 500°C is the highest according to the results of FTIR analysis showing the formation of Si–O–Y bonds. XRD data showed thermal stability up to around 800°C for the unsupported silica membrane with 15% yttria. N2 adsorption–desorption isotherm confirmed the existence of micro-porous structure for this membrane as BET surface area and average pore size of the unsupported membrane was 286m2g−1 and 1.9nm, respectively. Modified substrate surface reduced average roughness and a layer with similar roughness and pore size was achieved. Cross sectional images by FESEM showed the thickness of 680nm for the obtained membrane.
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