Abstract
In this article, the innovative cation-exchange membranes obtained from ceramic materials are
presented. Different microporous ceramic supports were obtained from an initial mixture of
alumina and kaolin, to which a varying content of starch was added in order to obtain supports
with different pore size distributions. The deposition of zirconium phosphate into the
porous supports generates membranes with cation-exchange properties. The fabrication of
ion-exchange membranes which could resist aggressive electrolytes such as strong oxidizing
spent chromium plating baths or radioactive solutions would allow the application of electrodialysis
for the decontamination and regeneration of these industrial effluents. The performance
of the manufactured membranes was studied in nickel sulfate solutions by means of
chronopotentiometry. An increase of the membrane voltage drop during chronopotentiometric
measurements was observed in some membranes, which seems to be a consequence of concentration
polarization phenomena resulting from the ionic transfer occurred through the membranes.
Currentvoltage curves were obtained for the different ceramic membranes, allowing
the calculation of their ohmic resistance. The ohmic resistance of the membranes increased
when the open porosity (OP) of the samples was incremented up to a value of 50%. For values
of OP higher than 50%, the resistance of the membranes decreased significantly with porosity.
