Experimental and modeling study of oxygen permeation modes for asymmetric mixed-conducting membranes

An asymmetric mixed-conducting membrane consists of a thin dense layer and a porous support, and its application has drawn considerable attention, because it is expected to have a more promising potential in the practical application compared with the symmetric membrane. However, with the introduction of support in the asymmetric membrane, two possible permeation modes are produced. One mode is that oxygen permeates from the support to the thin dense layer (designated as SD mode). The other is in the direction from the thin dense layer to the support (designated as DS mode). Thus, from the viewpoint of choosing an appropriate oxygen permeation mode to make better use of the membrane, it is necessary to study the oxygen flux in these two modes. In this paper, their effects on the oxygen flux of asymmetric membranes were investigated from the experiment and the model. The modeling results showed a good agreement with the experimental data. Our study demonstrates that when the asymmetric membrane adopts the SD mode, it is beneficial for the membrane to obtain higher oxygen permeation flux.