CVD of solid oxides in porous substrates for ceramic membrane modification

The deposition of yttria-doped zirconia has been experimented systematically in various types of porous ceramic substrates by a modified chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process operating in an opposing reactant geometry using water vapor and corresponding metal chloride vapors as reactants. The effects of substrate pore dimension and structure, bulk-phase reactant concentration, reactant diffusivity in substrate pores and deposition temperature are experimentally studied and explained qualitatively by a theoretical modeling analysis. The experimental and theoretical results suggest a reaction mechanism which depends on water vapor and chloride vapor concentrations. Consequently, the diffusivity, bulk-phase reactant concentration, and substrate pore dimension are important in the CVD process. Effects of deposition temperature on the deposition results and narrow deposition zone compared to the substrate thickness also suggest a Langmuir-Hinshelwood reaction mechanism involved in the CVD process with a very fast CVD reaction rate. Gas permeation data indicate that whether deposition of solid in substrate pores could result in the pore-size reduction depends strongly on the initial pore-size distribution of the substrate.