Morphology and N2 Permeance of Sputtered Pd-Ag Ultra-Thin Film Membranes

Thumbnail Image
Files
molecules-21-00210-v2.pdf (2.21 MB)
Identifiers
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11556/143
ISSN: 1420-3049
DOI: 10.3390/molecules21020210
Publication date
2016-02-10
Authors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI AG
Citations
Google Scholar
Export
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Abstract
The influence of the temperature during the growth of Pd-Ag films by PVD magnetron sputtering onto polished silicon wafers was studied in order to avoid the effect of the support roughness on the layer growth. The surfaces of the Pd-Ag membrane films were analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM), and the results indicate an increase of the grain size from 120 to 250–270 nm and film surface roughness from 4–5 to 10–12 nm when increasing the temperature from around 360–510 K. After selecting the conditions for obtaining the smallest grain size onto silicon wafer, thin Pd-Ag (0.5–2-µm thick) films were deposited onto different types of porous supports to study the influence of the porous support, layer thickness and target power on the selective layer microstructure and membrane properties. The Pd-Ag layers deposited onto ZrO2 3-nm top layer supports (smallest pore size among all tested) present high N2 permeance in the order of 10−6 mol•m−2•s−1•Pa−1 at room temperature.
Description
Keywords
palladium-silver alloy , PVD magnetron sputtering , ultra-thin film , H2 separation , film growth mechanisms
Type
journal article
Citation
Molecules 2016, 21(2), 210