Preparation and characterization of TiO2 membrane on porous 316 L stainless steel substrate with high mechanical strength

In this work the preparation and characterization of a membrane containing a uniform mesoporous Titanium oxide top layer on a porous stainless steel substrate has been studied. The 316 L stainless steel substrate was prepared by powder metallurgy technique and modified by soaking-rolling and fast drying method. The mesoporous titania membrane was fabricated via the sol-gel method. Morphological studies were performed on both supported and unsupported membranes using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and field emission scanning microscope (FESEM). The membranes were also characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and N₂ - adsorption / desorption measurement (BET analyses)- It was revealed that a defect-free anatase membrane with a thickness of 1.6 <i>μ</i>m and 4.3 nm average pore size can be produced. In order to evaluate the performance of the supported membrane, single - gas permeation experiments were carried out at room temperature with nitrogen gas. The permeability coefficient of the fabricated membrane was 4 × 10^-8 lit s^-1 Pa^-1 cm^-1.