Preparation and ionic selectivity of carbon-coated alumina nanofiber membranes

Abstract

A novel type of ion-selective membranes based on NafenTM alumina nanofibers coated with carbon is proposed. The membranes are produced by filtration of a Nafen nanofiber suspension through a porous support followed by drying and sintering. A thin carbon layer (up to 2 nm) is deposited on the nanofibers by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Its formation is confirmed by the results of Raman spectroscopy and visually observed in TEM images. According to low temperature nitrogen adsorption experiments, the formation of carbon layer leads to decreasing pore size (the maximum of pore size distribution shifts from 28 to 16 nm) and the corresponding decrease of porosity (from 75 to 62%) and specific surface area (from 146 to 107 m2g–1). The measurement of membrane potential in an electrochemical cell has shown that the deposition of carbon on the membrane results in high ionic selectivity. In an aqueous KCl solution, the membranes display high anion selectivity with anion and cation transference numbers of 0.94 and 0.06, respectively. The fixed-charge density of membrane has been determined by fitting the experimental data using the Teorell–Meyer–Sievers model. It has been found that the membrane fixed-charge density increases with increasing electrolyte concentration. Possible applications of the membranes produced include nanofiltration, ultrafiltration, and separation of charged species in mixtures. The formation of a conductive carbon layer on the pore surface can be employed for fabricating membranes with switchable ion-transport selectivity.