Fabrication of Interlayer-free P123 Caronised Template Silica Membranes for Water Desalination: Conventional Versus Rapid Thermal Processing (CTP vs RTP) Techniques

Abstract

Abstract This work demonstrates the comparison techniques between conventional and rapid thermal processing (CTP Vs RTP). It is to fabricate the interlayer-free P123 carbonised template silica membranes. The aim of this work is to understand the performance of fabricated membranes for water desalination. The silica sols pH 6 were prepared from a two acid-base catalyzed sol gel method by applying tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as the precursor. Triblock copolymer of Pluronic P123 was used as the templating agent and mixed homogenously with silica sols. The mixtures were calcined in two method called CTP and RTP. CTP is a slow calcination and takes 4 hours with 1 °C min-1 for dwelling time. On the other hand, RTP is rapid technique calcined in air (1 h without dwelling time). CTP confirms higher surface area (50 % higher), porosity (34 % higher) and thinner (60 %) than RTP. RTP technique is supposed to save time, energy and cost during membranes fabrication.