Hydrogen permeation through porous stainless steel for palladium-based composite porous membranes

Shahrouz Nayebossadri*, Sean Fletcher, John D. Speight, David Book

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)
452 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Surface topography and hydrogen permeation properties of Porous Stainless Steel (PSS) substrates for thin films deposition of Pd-based hydrogen separation membrane were investigated. Hydrogen permeance through the as received PSS substrates demonstrated a wide range, despite a similar average surface pore size of ~15 μm determined by SEM and confocal laser microscopy analyses. The surface pores of the PSS substrates were modified by impregnation of varying amounts of tungsten (W) powder. Maximum hydrogen flux reduction of 28% suggested that W has a limited effect on the hydrogen permeation through the PSS substrate. Therefore, it appears that hydrogen transport through PSS substrates is mainly controlled by the substrate geometrical factor (ετ), that is the ratio of the porosity to tortuosity. In addition, tungsten was shown to inhibit the iron inter-diffusion between the PSS substrate and the deposited Pd60Cu40 film at temperature as high as 800 °C. Thus, tungsten layer also serves as an effective inter-diffusion barrier. The variation in the permeance between the nominally similar PSS substrates indicates the importance to independently assess the hydrogen transport characteristics of each of the components in a composite membrane.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)22-28
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Membrane Science
Volume515
Early online date25 May 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2016

Keywords

  • Composite membrane
  • Hydrogen separation
  • Palladium-based membrane
  • Porous stainless steel
  • Surface modification

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Materials Science(all)
  • Biochemistry
  • Filtration and Separation

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