Patent ID: 8771404

Claim:
A process for making a composite hollow ceramic fiber, comprising the steps of: preparing a core suspension comprising a first polymeric binder, a first particulate ceramic material, and a first solvent; preparing a sheath suspension comprising a second polymeric binder, a second particulate ceramic material, and a second solvent; providing a spinnerette adapted and configured to continuously extrude one or more nascent hollow fibers comprising a hollow core formed from the core suspension and a sheath surrounding the core formed from the sheath suspension; immersing the nascent hollow fiber in a liquid coagulant to facilitate phase inversion of the first and second polymeric binders, wherein: the second particulate ceramic material comprises a mixed oxide conductor; the second particulate ceramic material has a median particle size less than that of the first particulate ceramic material; the first and second particulate ceramic materials are chemically identical; the first and second solvents are the same or different; and the first and second polymeric binders are the same or different.