Inorganic Thin Films and Membrane Materials

Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last decades, films and membrane materials have received great interest from the scientific community in a wide range of applications. Inorganic coatings are deposited to an underlying substrate in order to overcome limitations and deficiencies, to enhance its properties and/or add a new function to that substrate. For example, the grown film may provide corrosion protection to a metal (overcoming a deficiency of the substrate) or impart antireflective properties to glass (therefore adding a new function). Moreover, inorganic thin films can be designed as active components in multilayer structures for several purposes. For example, thin film coatings grown on polymeric substrates enhance the performance during exposure to environmental conditions (e.g., UV light, rain, temperature variations) and everyday wear and tear (abrasion damage, chipping, scuffing, etc.). Based on these considerations, inorganic thin films play a leading role in most energy-related technologies, such as conversion and storage energy devices, ceramic membranes for liquid and gas purifications, electronic devices, sensors or magnetic recording technologies. Ceramic and metallic membranes have gained increasing interest in the last decades due to their numerous possible applications, such as wastewater treatment, solvent recovery, desalination, energy conversion and storage devices (fuel cells/electrolysers), hydrogen production and gas separation. Moreover, membranes could be integrated into a reactor system, combining reaction and separation in a single multifunctional apparatus and thus allowing more favorable operating conditions. The most studied materials are carbon, silica, zeolite, various oxides (fluorites, perovskites, tungstates, etc.) and metals such as palladium, silver and their alloys. The aim of this Topic is to provide an overview of the latest results obtained in the field of inorganic films and membranes for energy-related applications, and to highlight possible research directions to further advance the development of these technologies.

Dr. Silvia Maria Deambrosis
Dr. Laura Almar
Dr. Cecilia Mortalò
Dr. Sonia Escolastico
Topic Editors

Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Coatings coatings	2.9	5.0	2011	14.5 Days	CHF 2600
Inorganics inorganics	3.1	2.8	2013	15.8 Days	CHF 2200
Materials materials	3.1	5.8	2008	13.9 Days	CHF 2600
Membranes membranes	3.3	6.1	2011	14.9 Days	CHF 2200
Nanomaterials nanomaterials	4.4	8.5	2010	14.1 Days	CHF 2400

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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All Coatings Inorganics Materials Membranes Nanomaterials

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Open AccessArticle

Wrinkled Thermo-Electric Meander-Shaped Element on a Thin Freestanding PDMS Membrane

by Liubov Bakhchova, Liudmila Deckert and Ulrike Steinmann

Membranes 2023, 13(5), 508; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13050508 - 11 May 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2231

Abstract

Natural wrinkling of metal films on silicone substrates can appear by means of the metal sputtering process and can be described by the continuous elastic theory and non-linear wrinkling model. Here, we report the fabrication technology and behavior of thin freestanding Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) [...] Read more.

Natural wrinkling of metal films on silicone substrates can appear by means of the metal sputtering process and can be described by the continuous elastic theory and non-linear wrinkling model. Here, we report the fabrication technology and behavior of thin freestanding Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membranes equipped with thermo-electric meander-shaped elements. The Cr/Au wires were obtained on the silicone substrate by magnetron sputtering. We observe wrinkle formation and suppose furrows appear once PDMS returns to its initial state after the thermo-mechanical expansion during sputtering. Although the substrate thickness is usually a negligible parameter in the theory of wrinkle formation, we found that the self-assembled wrinkling architecture of the PDMS/Cr/Au varies due to the membrane thickness of 20 µm and 40 µm PDMS. We also demonstrate that the wrinkling of the meander wire affects its length, and it causes a 2.7 times higher resistance compared to a calculated value. Therefore, we investigate the influence of the PDMS mixing ratio on the thermo-electric meander-shaped elements. For the stiffer PDMS with a mixing ratio of 10:4, the resistance due to wrinkle amplitude alterations is 25% higher compared to the PDMS of ratio 10:1. Additionally, we observe and describe a thermo-mechanically induced motion behavior of the meander wires on completely freestanding PDMS membrane under applied current. These results can improve the understanding of wrinkle formation, which influences thermo-electric characteristics and may promote the integration of this technology in applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Inorganic Thin Films and Membrane Materials)

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Supplementary File 1 (ZIP, 1738 KiB)

24 pages, 10118 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Improving Structural Homogeneity, Hydraulic Permeability, and Mechanical Performance of Asymmetric Monophasic Cellulose Acetate/Silica Membranes: Spinodal Decomposition Mix

by Fahimeh Zare, Sérgio B. Gonçalves, Mónica Faria and Maria Clara Gonçalves

Membranes 2023, 13(3), 346; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13030346 - 17 Mar 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1957

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an optimized protocol to synthesize reproducible, accurate, sustainable integrally skinned monophasic hybrid cellulose acetate/silica membranes for ultrafiltration. Eight different membrane compositions were studied, divided into two series, one and two, each composed of four membranes. The amount of [...] Read more.

In this paper, we propose an optimized protocol to synthesize reproducible, accurate, sustainable integrally skinned monophasic hybrid cellulose acetate/silica membranes for ultrafiltration. Eight different membrane compositions were studied, divided into two series, one and two, each composed of four membranes. The amount of silica increased from 0 wt.% up to 30 wt.% (with increments of 10 wt.%) in each series, while the solvent composition was kept constant within each series (formamide/acetone ratio equals 0.57 wt.% in series one and 0.73 wt.% in series two). The morphology of the membranes was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and the chemical composition by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, in attenuated total reflection mode (FTIR-ATR). Mechanical tensile properties were determined using tensile tests, and a retest trial was performed to assess mechanical properties variability over different membrane batches. The hydraulic permeability of the membranes was evaluated by measuring pure water fluxes following membrane compaction. The membranes in series two produced with a higher formamide/acetone solvent ratio led to thicker membranes with higher hydraulic permeability values (47.2–26.39 kg·h⁻¹·m⁻²·bar⁻¹) than for the membranes in series one (40.01–19.4 kg·h⁻¹·m⁻²·bar⁻¹). Results obtained from the FTIR-ATR spectra suggest the presence of micro/nano-silica clusters in the hybrid membranes of series one, also exhibiting higher Young’s modulus values than the hybrid membranes in series two. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Inorganic Thin Films and Membrane Materials)

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