Porous materials, methods of manufacture thereof and articles comprising the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10543476-B2
Application number	US-201715669172-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 4, 2017
Priority date	Aug 4, 2016
Publication date	Jan 28, 2020
Grant date	Jan 28, 2020

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a porous material comprising a biopolymer functionalized with a carbon dioxide capturing moiety; where the biopolymer is in the form of a foam or an aerogel having a bulk density of 500 grams per cubic meter to 2500 grams per cubic meter. Disclosed herein too is a method comprising functionalizing a biopolymer with a carbon dioxide capturing moiety; dissolving the biopolymer in an aqueous solution to form a first solution; reducing the temperature of the first solution to below the freezing point of the aqueous solution; displacing the aqueous solution with a first solvent that has a lower surface tension than a surface tension of the aqueous solution; and drying the first solvent to produce a porous biopolymer having a bulk density of 500 grams per cubic meter to 2500 grams per cubic meter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
functionalizing a biopolymer with a carbon dioxide capturing moiety;
dissolving the biopolymer in an aqueous solution to form a first solution;
reducing the temperature of the first solution to below the freezing point of the aqueous solution;
displacing the aqueous solution with a first solvent that has a lower surface tension than a surface tension of the aqueous solution;
drying the first solvent to produce a porous biopolymer having a bulk density of 500 grams per cubic meter to 2500 grams per cubic meter.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displacing the first solvent with a second solvent that has a lower surface tension than a surface tension of the first solvent.

3. The method of claim 1 , where the drying is conducted at a temperature of 15 to 150° C.

4. The method of claim 1 , where the temperature is reduced to a temperature of 0 to −196° C.

Assignees

• Univ Massachusetts

Inventors

• Li Yinyong
• Carter Kenneth Raymond
• Martin Kara

Classifications

• C08J2400/16

  Biodegradable polymers · CPC title

• C08J9/0076

  Nanofibres · CPC title

• C08J9/0061

  characterized by the use of several polymeric components · CPC title

• C08B15/06

  containing nitrogen {, e.g. carbamates} · CPC title

• B01D53/04

  with stationary adsorbents {(B01D53/025 takes precedence)} · CPC title