Aerosol-assisted deposition of surfactant-templated mesoporous silica membranes on porous ceramic supports G. Xomeritakis a , C.M. Braunbarth a , B. Smarsly a , N. Liu a , R. K€ ohn a , Z. Klipowicz b , C.J. Brinker a,c, * a NSF Center for Microengineered Materials, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA b Department of Ceramic Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA c Sandia National Laboratories, Advanced Materials Laboratory, 1001 University Blvd. SE, Suite 100, Albuquerque, NM 87106, USA Received 23 May 2003; received in revised form 22 August 2003; accepted 25 August 2003 Abstract We present a new approach for rapid formation of mesoporous, surfactant-templated silica membranes on coarse- pore a-Al 2 O 3 ceramic supports. A surfactant-silica sol is dispersed in the gas phase in the form of small droplets and delivered to the surface of the planar support by a N 2 carrier stream. Coalescence of deposited sol droplets combined with solvent evaporation-induced self-assembly of liquid crystalline mesophases results in the formation of continuous, mesostructured silica-surfactant layers covering the surface of the support. These mesostructured silica membranes are impermeable right after synthesis and exhibit N 2 permeance in the range 10 7 –10 6 mol m 2 s 1 Pa 1 after surfactant removal. SEM studies revealed the presence of relatively smooth layers of thickness 1 lm on the surface of the ceramic supports while SAXS and TEM investigations revealed that these membranes possess cubic-ordered mesopores of size 20  A, without preferential orientation with respect to the substrate. Such membranes may find application in ul- trafiltration separation processes, since surfactant-templating can be used for accurate control of the pore size/distri- bution in the proper range for a desired separation. Ó 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Aerosol; Mesoporous silica; Surfactant; Membrane; Ultrafiltration 1. Introduction The sol–gel process is a well-established route for the synthesis of a variety of porous inorganic membranes with high thermal and chemical sta- bility, controlled microstructure, and pore size spanning the micro- and mesoporous range. The most common sol–gel derived porous inorganic membranes are commercially available ultrafiltra- tion membranes of composition c-Al 2 O 3 , TiO 2 and ZrO 2 [1]. The precursors of these membranes are usually colloidal sols of nanometer-sized metal oxide particles, formed by hydrolysis and con- densation of respective metallorganic precursors in aqueous media. Membrane formation typically * Corresponding author. Address: NSF Center for Micro- engineered Materials, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA. Tel.: +1-505-272-7627; fax: +1-505-272-7336. E-mail address: cjbrink@sandia.gov (C.J. Brinker). 1387-1811/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.micromeso.2003.08.024 www.elsevier.com/locate/micromeso Microporous and Mesoporous Materials 66 (2003) 91–101