• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.286-300
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• 2016

Pd-Ag alloy membranes have attracted a great deal of attention for their use in hydrogen purification and separation due to their high theoretical permeability, infinite selectivity and chemical compatibility with hydro-carbon containing gas streams. For commercial application, Pd-based membranes for hydrogen purification and separation need not only a high perm-selectivity but also a stable long-term durability. However, it has been difficult to fabricate thin, dense Pd-Ag alloy membranes on a porous stainless steel metal support with surface pores free and a stable diffusion barrier for preventing metallic diffusion from the porous stainless steel support. In this study, thin Pd-Ag alloy membranes were prepared by advanced Pd/Ag/Pd/Ag/Pd multi-layer sputter deposition on the modified porous stainless steel support using rough polishing/$ZrO_2$ powder filling and micro-polishing surface treatment, and following Ag up-filling heat treatment. Because the modified Pd-Ag alloy membranes using rough polishing/$ZrO_2$ powder filling method demonstrate high hydrogen permeability as well as diffusion barrier efficiency, it leads to the performance improvement in hydrogen perm-selectivity. Our membranes, therefore, are expected to be applicable to industrial fields for hydrogen purification and separation owing to enhanced functionality, durability and metal support/Pd alloy film integration.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.07a
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• pp.25-28
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• 2003

Low cost composite metallic membranes for the hydrogen separation and production have been prepared by using thin Pd-Ag foils reinforced by metallic (stainless steel and nickel) structures. Especially, “supported membranes” have been obtained by a diffusion welding procedure in which Pd-Ag thin foils have been joined with perforated metals (nickel) and expanded metals (stainless steel): in these membranes the thin palladium foil assures both the high hydrogen permeability and the perm-selectivity while the metallic support provides the mechanical strength. A second studied method of producing "laminated membranes" consists of coating non-noble metal sheets with very thin palladium layers by diffusion welding and cold-rolling. Palladium thin coatings over these metals reduce the activation energy of the hydrogen adsorption process and make them permeable to the hydrogen. In this case, the dense non-noble metal has been used as a support structure of the thin Pd-Ag layers coated over its surfaces: a proper thickness of the metal assures the mechanical strength, the absence of defects (cracks, micro-holes) and the complete hydrogen selectivity of the membrane. membrane.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.98-107
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• 2017

Pd-based membranes have been widely used in hydrogen purification and separation due to their high hydrogen diffusivity and infinite selectivity. However, it has been difficult to fabricate thin and dense Pd-based membranes on a porous stainless steel(PSS) support. In case of a conventional PSS support having the large size of surface pores, it was required to use complex surface treatment and thick Pd coating more than $6{\mu}m$ on the PSS was required in order to form pore free surface. In this study, we could fabricate thin and dense Pd membrane with only $3{\mu}m$ Pd layer on a new PSS support manufactured by metal injection molding(MIM). The PSS support had low surface roughness and mean pore size of $5{\mu}m$. Pd membrane were prepared by advanced Pd sputter deposition on the modified PSS support using fine polishing and YSZ vacuum filling surface treatment. At temperature $400^{\circ}C$ and transmembrane pressure difference of 1 bar, hydrogen flux and selectivity of $H_2/N_2$ were $11.22ml\;cm^{-2}min^{-1}$ and infinity, respectively. Comparing with $6{\mu}m$ Pd membrane, $3{\mu}m$ Pd membrane showed 2.5 times higher hydrogen flux which could be due to the decreased Pd layer thickness from $6{\mu}m$ to $3{\mu}m$ and an increased porosity. It was also found that pressure exponent was changed from 0.5 on $6{\mu}m$ Pd membrane to 0.8 on $3{\mu}m$ Pd membrane.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.297-306
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• 2018

This review focused carbon-free hydrogen productions from ammonia decomposition including inorganic membranes, catalysts and the presently studied reactor configurations. It also contains general information about hydrogen productions from hydrocarbons as hydrogen carriers. A Pd-based membrane (e.g. a porous ceramic or porous metallic support with a thin selective layer of Pd alloy) shows its efficiency to produce the high purity hydrogen. Ru-based catalysts consisted of Ru, support, and promoter are the efficient catalysts for ammonia decomposition. Packed bed membrane reactor (PBMR), Fluidized bed membrane reactor (FBMR), and membrane micro-reactor have been studied mainly for the optimization and the improvement of mass transfer limitation. Various types of reactors, which contain various combinations of hydrogen-selective membranes (i.e. Pd-based membranes) and catalysts (i.e. Ru-based catalysts) including catalytic membrane reactor, have been studied for carbon-free hydrogen production to achieve high ammonia conversion and high hydrogen flux and purity.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.296-303
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• 2008

Hydrogen permeation through dense palladium-based membranes has attracted the attention of many scientists largely due to their unmatched potential as hydrogen-selective membranes for membrane reactor applications. Although it is well known that the permeation mechanism of hydrogen through Pd involves various processes such as dissociative adsorption, transitions to and from the bulk Pd, diffusion within Pd, and recombinative desorption, it is still unclear which process mainly limits hydrogen permeation at a given temperature and hydrogen partial pressure. In this study, we report an all-electron density-functional theory study of hydrogen permeation through Pd membrane (using VASP code). Especially, we focus on the variation of the energy barrier of the penetration process from the surface to the bulk with hydrogen coverage, which means the large reduction of the fracture stress in the brittle crack propagation considering Griffith's criterion. It is also found that the penetration energy barrier from the surface to the bulk largely decreases so that it almost vanishes at the coverage 1.25, which means that the penetration process cannot be the rate determining process.

• Korean Membrane Journal
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.68-74
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• 2003

Methane steam reforming (MSR) reaction for hydrogen production was studied in a membrane reactor (MR) using two tubular membranes, one Pd-based and one of porous alumina. A higher methane conversion than the thermodynamic equilibrium for a traditional reactor (TR) was achieved using MRs. The experimental temperature range was 350-500$^{\circ}C$; no sweep-gas was employed during reaction tests to avoid its back-permeation through the membrane and the steam/methane molar feed ratio (m) varied in the range 3.5-5.9. The best results (the difference between the MR conversion and the thermodynamic equilibrium was of about 7%) were achieved with the alumina membrane, working with the highest steam/methane ratio and at 450$^{\circ}C$. Silica membranes prepared at KRICT laboratories were characterized with permeation tests on single gases (N$_2$, H$_2$ and CH$_4$). These membranes are suited for H$_2$ separation at high temperature.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.07a
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• pp.21-24
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• 2003

Methane steam reforming (MSR) was studied in a membrane reactor (MR) with a Pd-based and a porous alumina membranes. MRs showed methane conversion higher than that foresaw by the thermodynamic equilibrium for a traditional reactor (TR). Silica membranes prepared at KRICT were characterized with permeation tests on single gases ($N_2$, $H_2$ and $CH_4$). These silica membranes can be also used for high temperature applications such as $H_2$ separation $CO_2$ hydrogenation for methanol production is another reaction where $H_2O$ selective removal can be performed with these silica membranes.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.167-171
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• 2011

[ ${\alpha}$ ]synuclein (${\alpha}$-syn) is implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) and other related diseases. We have previously reported that ${\alpha}$-syn binds to the cell membranes in a transient and reversible manner. However, little is known about the physiologic function and/or consequence of this association. Here, we examined whether chemically induced perturbations to the cellular membranes enhance the binding of ${\alpha}$-syn, based on hypothesis that ${\alpha}$-syn may play a role in maintenance of membrane integrity or repair. We induced membrane perturbations or alterations in ${\alpha}$-syn-overexpressing human neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) by treating the cells with hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) or oleic acid. In addition, membranes fractionated from these cells were perturbed by treating them with proteinase K or chloroform. Dynamic interaction of ${\alpha}$-syn to the membranes was analyzed by the chemical cross-linking assay that we developed in the previous study. We found that membrane interaction of ${\alpha}$-syn was increased upon treatment with membrane-perturbing reagents in a dose and time dependent manner. These results suggest that perturbations in the cellular membranes cause increased binding of ${\alpha}$-syn, and this may have significant implication in the physiological function of ${\alpha}$-syn in cells.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.248-256
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• 2012

A Pd-based hydrogen membranes for hydrogen purification and separation need high hydrogen perm-selectivity. The surface roughness of the support is important to coat the pinholes free and thin-film membrane over it. Also, The pinholes drastically decreased the hydrogen perm-selectivity of the Pd-based composite membrane. In order to remove the pinholes, we introduced various surface pre-treatment such as alumina powder packing, nickel electro-plating and micro-polishing pre-treatment. Especially, the micro-polishing pretreatment was very effective in roughness leveling off the surface of the porous nickel support, and it almost completely plugged the pores. Fine Ni particles filled surface pinholes with could form open structure at the interface of Pd alloy coating and Ni support by their diffusion to the membrane and resintering. In this study, a $4{\mu}m$ surface pore-free Pd-Cu-Ni ternary alloy membrane on a porous nickel substrate was successfully prepared by micro-polishing, high temperature sputtering and Cu-reflow process. And $H_2$ permeation and $N_2$ leak tests showed that the Pd-Cu-Ni ternary alloy hydrogen membrane achieved both high permeability of $13.2ml{\cdot}cm^{-2}{\cdot}min^{-1}{\cdot}atm^{-1}$ permation flux and infinite selectivity.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.232-239
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• 2009

This study presented the effect of membrane thickness on hydrogen permeability. Microvoids on the surface of the membrane should not exist for the exact values of hydrogen permeability. Pd-Cu-Ni hydrogen alloy membranes were fabricated by Ni powder sintering, substrate plasma pretreatment, sputtering and Cu reflow process. And this leaded to void-free surface and dense film of Pd-Cu-Ni hydrogen alloy membrane. Hydrogen permeation test showed that hydrogen permeability increased from 2.7 to $15.2ml/cm^2{\cdot}min{\cdot}atm^{0.5}$ as membrane thickness decreased from 12 to $4{\mu}m$. This represented the similar trend as a hydrogen permeability of pure palladium membrane based on solution-diffusion mechanism.