Fabrication of micro membrane reactor for hydrogen peroxide production

The authors are developing a Pd membrane-based micro chemical reactor using micromachining technology to produce hydrogen peroxide from the direct reaction of oxygen and hydrogen. Reaction gases are delivered through gas channels, that is, polyimide for oxygen and silicon for hydrogen. The hydrogen peroxide at the surface of the membrane is synthesized without external energy. The micro chemical reactor includes the Pd catalyst, micro channels for delivering the reaction gases, and a temperature sensor and microheater fabricated by microsystem technology. The Si is fabricated by deep RIE etching to produce the hydrogen gas channels. The palladium catalyst layer is coated by an evaporation method to permeate the hydrogen selectively, and the Pt layer for temperature sensor and microheater is also deposited by the evaporation method. Lastly, the polyimide layer is fabricated using a sacrificial layer.