Hydrogen permeation on Al2O3-based nickel/cobalt composite membranes

Al2O3 was synthesized using the sol-gel process with aluminum isopropoxide as the precursor and primary distilled water as the solvent. Nickel and cobalt metal powders were used to increase the strength of the membranes. The Al2O3-based membranes were prepared using HPS following a mechanical alloying process. The phase transformation, thermal evolution, surface and cross-section morphology of Al2O3 and Al2O3-based membranes were characterized by XRD, TG-DTA and FE-SEM. The hydrogen permeation of Al2O3-based membranes was examined at 300–473 K under increasing pressure. Hydrogen permeation flux through an Al2O3-20wt%Co membrane was obtained to 2.36 mol m−2 s−1. Reaction enthalpy was calculated to 4.5 kJ/mol using a Van’t Hoff’s plot.