Hydrogen is seen as a clean energy carrier. Most of the hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels. It is necessary to purify fossil-derived hydrogen from common contaminants.
Fossil-derived hydrogen-assisted water splitting using a dense oxygen-ion-conduction ceramic membrane is a promising H 2 -purification technique due to the membrane's 100% oxygen selectivity. Chemical stability issues are a problem for existing oxygen-conducting membranes.
Researchers from the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a new "Interface-reaction-Induced reassembly" approach to fabricate ceramic membranes.
The study was published in the international edition of the journal.
A layer-by-layer deposition method is used to fabricate multilayer ceramic membranes. The dense thin layers are usually between 10 and 1000 m. Professor Jiang Heqing from QIBEBT said that thin layers delaminate from the support layers during co-sIntering.
The researchers were inspired by the architectural structure of the grasses in the soil to develop an interface-reaction-induced reassembly approach to fabricate a three-layer ceramic membranes with an oxygen-conducting dense thin layer in its parent layer.
"In this new approach, by deliberately applying a proper etchant Al 2 O 3, the surface Fe- containing grains in the pressed pellet were etched via interface reactions at high temperatures, producing reaction enthalpy," said Associate Professor He Guanghu from QIBEBT, first
The heat is expected to increase the local temperature for driving the reassembly of the surface-isolated fluorite-type grains into a dense thin layer that cut off the interface reactions.
The researchers found that the ceria-based layers were very thin, highly dense and adhere strongly to the parent layers, not only reducing ionic transport resistance, but also ensuring structural integrity.
The researchers were able to demonstrate hydrogen production from water splitting by oxidation of coke oven gas with H 2, CH 4, CO 2, CO and H 2 S.
The results suggest that this technique paves the way for the development of high- performance ceramics with functional layers for various applications. Prof Jiang Heqing from QIBEBT is the leader of the study.
The Multilayer Ceramic Membrane with Ion Conducting Thin Layer is Induced by the Interface Reaction for Stable Hydrogen Production. It was published in the journal 10.1002/anie.
Journal information: Angewandte Chemie International Edition
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