Graphene reinforced materials and related methods of manufacture

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10093072-B2
Application number	US-201414217759-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 18, 2014
Priority date	Mar 18, 2014
Publication date	Oct 9, 2018
Grant date	Oct 9, 2018

Abstract

Graphene reinforced materials and related methods of manufacture are provided. The graphene reinforced materials include graphene sheet or scroll, graphene-polymer sheet or scroll, and graphene-carbon sheet or scroll, each having material properties that are attractive across a broad range of applications and industries. The graphene reinforced materials generally include monolayer or multilayer graphene that is synthesized by annealing a catalyst substrate within a CVD chamber, introducing a hydrocarbon gas as a carbon source with the CVD chamber to form a layer of graphene on the catalyst substrate, detaching the catalyst substrate from the layer of graphene, and rolling the layer of graphene onto itself to form a scroll, optionally with the addition of a polymer layer or carbonized layer on the graphene layer.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of forming a graphene scroll, the method comprising:
inserting a catalyst substrate into a chemical vapor deposition chamber, the catalyst substrate being a sheet material of freestanding metal foil;
annealing the catalyst substrate in hydrogen gas within the chemical vapor deposition chamber; and
exposing the annealed catalyst substrate to a reaction gas mixture including a hydrocarbon;
synthesizing graphene from the reaction gas mixture following the exposure of the annealed catalyst substrate to the reaction gas mixture;
detaching the annealed catalyst substrate from the synthesized graphene; and
consolidating the synthesized graphene by floating the synthesized graphene on a solution and rolling the synthesized graphene onto itself to form a cylindrical multi-wall graphene scroll having a spiral cross-section, wherein the synthesized graphene is a non-hydrogenated graphene layer at least during consolidation into the multi-wall graphene scroll.

2. The method according to claim 1 further including bonding a polymeric film to the synthesized graphene prior to consolidation into a multi-wall graphene scroll.

3. The method according to claim 2 further including heat treating the polymeric film to carbonize the polymeric film.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the hydrocarbon is selected from the group consisting of methane, ethane, propane, butane, pentane, hexane, heptane, octane, acetylene, benzene, toluene and combinations thereof.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the freestanding metal foil is a copper foil.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein annealing the catalyst substrate includes gradually heating the catalyst substrate to approximately 1000° C.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the reaction gas mixture includes a buffer gas selected from the group consisting of noble gases and nitrogen.

8. A method of synthesizing a graphene article, the method comprising:
passing a metal substrate through a heated chemical vapor deposition chamber at atmospheric pressure, the metal substrate being a sheet material of freestanding metal foil;
introducing hydrocarbon gas as a carbon source to form at least a monolayer of large area graphene including crystal hexagonal grains on the metal substrate;
forming a thermoplastic film on a surface of the graphene opposite the metal substrate;
detaching the metal substrate from the graphene to achieve a composite graphene article; and
consolidating the composite graphene article by floating the composite graphene article on a solution and rolling the composite graphene article into a cylindrical multi-wall graphene scroll having a spiral cross-section, wherein the graphene of the composite graphene article is a non-hydrogenated graphene layer at least during consolidation into the multi-wall graphene scroll.

9. The method according to claim 8 further including heat treating the polymeric film to carbonize the polymeric film.

10. The method according to claim 8 wherein the thermoplastic film includes poly(methyl methacrylate).

11. The method according to claim 8 wherein the thermoplastic film is spin coated, spin coated or deep coated onto a surface of the graphene opposite the metal substrate.

12. The method according to claim 8 further including continuously extracting the metal substrate from the chemical vapor deposition chamber.

Assignees

• Ut Battelle Llc

Inventors

• Vlassiouk Ivan V
• Ivanov Ilia N
• Datskos Panagiotis G

Classifications

• B32B1/00 Primary

  Layered products having a non-planar shape · CPC title

• C01B32/194

  After-treatment · CPC title

• C04B2235/96

  Properties of ceramic products, e.g. mechanical properties such as strength, toughness, wear resistance · CPC title

• C04B2235/94

  Products characterised by their shape · CPC title

• Y10T428/30

  Self-sustaining carbon mass or layer with impregnant or other layer · CPC title