Water adsorption properties controlled by coating/filling ordered mesoporous silica inside cellulose membranes

Abstract

Porous organic membranes have been utilized as hard templates not only for replication of porous macrostructures but also for fabrication of hierarchical porous solids through infiltration of precursor solutions in ordered mesoporous materials. However, such organic membranes are usually burned out as sacrificial skeletons by calcination. In addition, replicated macropores are too big to enhance properties due to inorganic oxide frameworks. In this study, when cellulose membranes were used as organic membranes, a coating/filling technology of ordered mesoporous silicas was proposed and the water adsorption–desorption properties were directly investigated by using the composite membranes after extraction of nonionic surfactants used. The composite membranes possessed enough adsorption capacity for water, which will be potentially useful for improving total energy efficiency in heat-pump and desiccant air conditioning systems.