On the Use of Porous and Nonporous Fillers in the Fabrication of Silicon Carbide Membranes

Hydrogen-permselective asymmetric silicon carbide (SiC) membranes were prepared in this study by incorporating highly porous SiC nanofibers into the membrane structure using a sacrificial interlayer-based technique. The resulting membranes were characterized with permeation studies, nitrogen adsorption experiments, and electron microscopy analysis. Their characteristics were compared with those of SiC membranes prepared with the same approach but making use, instead, of fine, nonporous SiC powders as fillers.