Preparation and Morphological Property of Co3O4/BaxSr1-xCo0.8Fe0.2O3-δ (x=0.5-0.7) Membranes using Starch as Binder Agent

Abstract

Abstract Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3-δ (x=0.5-0.7) or BSCF was known as promising material to prepare MIEC membrane for oxygen separation. Several modifications have been performed to improve catalytic activity of BSCF membranes. One of the promising methods was coating of the membrane with catalyst layer such as Co3O4. This work investigates the simple and effective method to coat Co3O4 layer on the surface of BaxSr1-xCo0.8Fe0.2O3-δ (x=0.5-0.7) flat sheet membranes resulting Co3O4/BSCF xx82 membranes. BSCF were prepared from its initial powders by dry pressing method followed by sintering at 1150 °C for 4 hours. The resulted BSCF dense membranes were coated with Co3O4 using starch as binder agent in the form of suspension. The coating suspension consist of 62.5% w/w of starch and 37.5% w/w of Co3O4. The coating suspension was directly coated on the surface of the BSCF dense membranes followed by calcination at 800 °C for 3 hours. The surface morphology and cross section of membranes were observed using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) equipped with Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX). SEM images show that the method succeeds to coat Co3O4 layer on the surface of BSCF membranes. However, the distribution of the Co3O4 was not uniform and some particles form aggregate. The particle size of the membranes was about 0.5-2.0 μm whereas the aggregate size is around 2-5 μm. The presence of Co3O4 layer was also indicated by the increasing of Co intensity in the surface of membranes as analyzed by EDX.