Preparation and characterization of nickel hollow fiber membrane

Nickel hollow fiber membranes were prepared by a phase inversion and a sintering method. A nickel hollow fiber support was prepared by spinning the polymer solution containing suspended nickel powders to a hollow fiber precursor which is then sintered at elevated temperature. For these hollow fiber precursors, polysulfone and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone were used as a polymer binder and a solvent, respectively. Furthermore, the nickel hollow fiber membrane was successfully fabricated on the nickel hollow fiber support by coating a finer nickel particle. The nickel hollow fibers were characterized using scanning electron microscope, porometry measurement, mercury porosimeter and three point bending test. The prepared nickel membranes show an asymmetric and a sponge-like structure. The average pore size of the membrane is in the range of 0.4–1.0 mm.

temperature. The mean pore size of the nickel hollow fiber support and the nickel hollow fiber membrane get bigger as an increase in sintering temperature, because the growth of grains led to the formation of large pores when the support and the membrane were sintered. At this temperature, the porosity of the nickel hollow fiber support and the nickel hollow fiber membrane shows 38% and 34%, respectively. Fig. 7 gives the pore size distribution from the nickel hollow fiber support sintered at 1200 C for 3 h, as well as the nickel hollow fiber membrane sintered at 700 C for 1 h. It can be seen that pore size diameter was decreased by coating a finer nickel powder on the support.