Description:
Hybrid organosilica are recency type of membranes derived from Ethyl Silicate 40 (ES40)
and pluronic triblock copolymer (P123) precursors. These attributes make them defeat pure
silica membranes performance on water desalination. This work aims to functionalize of
hybrid organosilica (ES40 - P123) membranes for water desalination. Silica sols are produced
by combining ES40 and P123 by sol–gel method through hydrolysis and condensation
reactions with acid-base catalysts. P123 added together with base catalyst in sols mixture to
form hybrid silica P123 structure then coated on membrane support α-Al2O3 and calcined at
450 oC by Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) technique in air condition. RTP involves a rapid
heating rate and a short period of high temperature exposure up to 1 hour without dwelling
time and possibility replacing the conventional silica precursor tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS)
with an industrial precursor ethyl silicate 40 (ES40). The characteristic results of organosilica
(ES40-P123) xerogels by FTIR wavelength at 1063 cm-1 detected by siloxane (Si-O-Si) group
and 796 cm-1 detected by Si-C. The presence of silica-carbon is indicating the organosilica
structure become enhance and more stable toward water. Further, ES40 with RTP technique
could save time, energy and cost during membrane fabrication.
Keywords: Water Desalination, ES40-P123, hybrid organosilica membrane, interlayer-free,
RTP, sol-gel method, TEOS,