The effect of plasticizer on morphology and permeability of the multilayer porous titania sheet prepared by tape casting method

Two different plasticizers, Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) and Benzyl Butyl Phthalate (BBP) were used for fabrication of porous titania (TiO2) sheets via nonaqueous tape casting method. In slurry preparation, polyvinyl Butyral (PVB) and mixture of ethanol/toluene were used as binder and solvent, respectively. The crystal structures of the porous titania sheets were examined using X-ray diffraction. The influence of the binder to plasticizer ratio on the Thickness and apparent density of the sintered titania sheets were investigated. In addition, the morphology and porous structure of thiania sheets made with different amount of PEG were studied. Increasing the apparent density and thickness and decreasing the porosity of the samples with increasing the binder to plasticizer ratio revealed that the plasticizer had a significant effect on the physical properties of porous titania sheets. Moreover, Preparing of the multilayer titania sheet with lamination of the green tape was dependent on the plasticizer type. Water permeability of the multilayer titania sheets prepared with different BBP and PEG were 916 and 945 L/m2.h.bar, respectively. However, the maximum trans-membrane pressure (TMP) for BBP and PEG were 30 and 20 KPa, respectively