Electrochemical and electroless deposition techniques were investigated as ways to deposit ultra-thin films of palladium on porous anodic alumina (PAA) membranes. PAA films with specific thermal and structural properties were fabricated by anodizing (~99.99%) pure aluminium in various acidic electrolytes (phosphoric, oxalic, sulfuric) under mild and/or hard anodizing conditions. Under constant voltage conditions, self-organization into a regular hexagonal pore array can be achieved. Previous work has demonstrated the thermal stability of the PAA architecture and its potential as ceramic support for thin palladium films deposited by vacuum evaporation. We have followed this up by applying and developing other deposition techniques using various plating solutions to deposit palladium with sufficient control of thickness and the mode of deposition, either blocking the pores with palladium metal and/or coat of the pore channels, leaving a continuous layer of palladium inside the pore walls.

The aim for this project is to selectively coat PAA membranes with palladium for use as membrane reactors in gas reforming processes. We propose the use of nanostructured membrane reactors to carry out gas reforming: these high surface area devices can be very efficient through enabling simultaneous reaction and selection of gas species (e.g. H2). The selection of different metal catalyst to be deposited is therefore critical to the gas selectivity of the ceramic support, which means there are huge potentials for fabricating PAA membranes with other functionalities. The thermal stability and structural integrity of the coated PAA were characterised using thermogravimetry / differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffractometry, and field emission scanning electron microscopy, and the methodology and the results will be presented.

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