The effect of support resistance on the hydrogen permeation behavior in Pd–Cu–Ni ternary alloy membrane deposited on a porous nickel support

Abstract

This paper shows the effect of support resistance on the pressure exponent. Pd–Cu–Ni ternary alloy film is formed on the newly developed porous nickel support which has Knudsen diffusion. Permeation flux of hydrogen was measured at 673, 723 and 773 K under two different permeation directions, i.e. support to film (SF mode) and film to support (FS mode). It was found that the permeation direction had an effect on the hydrogen permeation flux and the pressure exponent as well. For both of permeation directions, the interface pressure of Pd alloy film and porous nickel support was determined and it was affected by permeation direction. The obtained interface pressure was used to clarify the reason why the pressure exponent was deviated from the Sieverts’ law and it was found that the reason is the support resistance rather than surface reaction.