Inkjet Printing of Microporous Silica Gas Separation Membranes

Inkjet printing was applied to manufacture silica-based gas separation membranes, which were coated on a pore-graduated alumina substrate with a mesoporous -alumina interlayer. A silica sol diluted by 1-propanol was used to print the membrane layer followed by thermal treatment in a rapid thermal processing furnace. The membrane thickness was varied between 30 and 110nm by conducting one, two, and three coating steps. In the latter case, H-2 permeance in the range of 2.0x10(-8)-3.3x10(-8)mol/s.m(2) .Pa combined with H-2/CO2 selectivities in the range of 15-25 were achieved, proving the concept that inorganic gas separation membranes can be successfully processed by inkjet printing.