Ferroxane nanoparticles are precursors to iron oxide ceramic porous membranes. The ferroxane-derived ceramics have an average pore size of 24 nm and a surface area of 80 m2/g. Previous work has shown that these membranes have a molecular weight cut off of 180,000 dalton and their permeability is comparable to commercially available membranes. The ferroxane nanoparticles were reacted with manganese acetyl acetonate and then applied to the fabrication of mixed metal oxides. The nanoparticles were dried to form a ceramic chip. Upon sintering, asymmetric mixed metal oxide ceramic membranes were obtained. The materials were characterized by EXAFS, EDAX imaging and IDX mapping. EXAFS showed that the atomic environment of the iron and dopant material was different from those in the initial compounds, thus confirming that the reaction took place. The concentration of dopant metal was between 7% and 10%, with uniform concentration throughout the material.

Porous solids were obtained from self-assembled deposits of silica nanoparticles used as templates to form 3-D porous membranes. The effect of the solvent chemistry on the morphology of the deposits was investigated. The parameters of interest are surface tension and ionic strength of the solvent, due to electrostatic and capillary interactions. Deposits of nanoparticles of different sizes were obtained for a variety of conditions. The deposits were imaged using SEM and showed distinctive structures for each of the solvent chemistries. The phenomenon is consistent with the DVLO theory and calculations of capillary interaction energy.