Search

Hydrogen separation devices are attracting increasing interest as potential devices for the industrial production of hydrogen. In particular, metal thin films are promising because they can satisfy the requirements of a typical hydrogen-purification process. Palladium alloys are the only metals that satisfy all these requirements; however, palladium is prohibitively expensive. Therefore, the development of new thin alloy films by a minimal addition of Pd or the development of non-Pd-based thin film alloy becomes increasingly important. We have been interested in the outstanding features of amorphous alloys, which are superior to crystalline alloys in terms of, for example, mechanical properties and excellent immunity from corrosion. In this study, an amorphous multilayered Ni-Zr alloy thin film was prepared by a sputtering technique. Hydrogen permeation properties through those alloy thin films were examined. Moreover, hydrogen solubility and diffusivity were also measured in order to discuss the mechanism for hydrogen permeation. The existing Pd-based metal alloy's permeable membrane and characteristics were comparatively analyzed by measuring microstructure, hydrogen transmittance and mechanical strength, etc. of the manufactured permeable membrane.

Fuel cells operating at intermediate temperatures between 200°C and 400°C have attracted much attention because of the advantages such as enhanced reaction kinetics, resistance to CO poisoning, potential use of renewable fuels, reducing or eventually eliminating the noble metal catalysts. At intermediate temperature, phosphate glasses are suited to new solid state electrolytes. Phosphate glasses containing alkali ion have a structure in which protons have higher mobility and have been shown to possess high ionic conductivities because the hydrogen bonding network maintains between the adjacent oxide ions in the structures allowing for proton mobility by the hopping mechanism. However, the materials based on phosphate glasses have some problems. Contents of phosphorus can change due to volatilization during heat treatment and the glass structure can even break down through hydrolysis. Therefore, one of the solutions for the problem is improving the chemical and mechanical stability of phosphate glasses. Niobium ions in phosphate glass network have been reported as to increase the proton conductivity of the phosphate glasses, effectively preserving P content from severe volatilization. In this study, we report the chemical stability and the electrical properties at intermediate temperature of niobium phosphate glass thin films fabricated through sol-gel processing.

not Available.

not Available.

not Available.

not Available.

not Available.

not Available.

not Available.

not Available.

not Available.

not Available.

not Available.

not Available.

not Available.

not Available.

not Available.