Surface corona discharge-induced plasma chemical process-chemical vapor deposition (SPCP-CVD) as a novel method for surface modification of ceramic membranes

In this work, surface corona discharged-induced plasma chemical process—chemical vapor deposition (SPCP-CVD) was applied as the surface modification method to introduce functional groups (aminopropyl groups) onto the inner surface of a porous ceramic membrane. The amino group was successfully introduced not only onto the surface of the ceramic tube but also onto the surface of the inside pores of the membrane. The amount of introduced amino group increased with an increase of the adsorption time, as an operational condition, in both cases of 1 and 2 times treatments. In the case of 2 times treatments, the efficiency of the introduction was significantly higher than that in the 1 times treatment. The amount of adsorbed γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, as an ingredient of the surface modification, increased with an increase of the adsorption time, and the amount was the same for the both treatment cases. The reason for the high efficiency of the 2 times treatments can not be explained at present. This should be studied in the future in detail to reveal the mechanism of the SPCP-CVD treatment.