Process for producing fabric of continuous graphene fiber yarns from functionalized graphene sheets

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10934637-B2
Application number	US-201815985053-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 21, 2018
Priority date	May 21, 2018
Publication date	Mar 2, 2021
Grant date	Mar 2, 2021

Abstract

A process for producing a fabric comprising at least a graphene-based continuous or long fiber, comprising: (a) preparing a graphene dispersion having chemically functionalized graphene sheets dispersed in a fluid; (b) dispensing, depositing, and shearing at least a continuous or long filament of the graphene dispersion onto a substrate, and removing the fluid to form a continuous or long fiber comprising aligned chemically functionally graphene sheets; and (c) inducing chemical reactions between chemical functional groups attached to adjacent graphene sheets to form the graphene fiber; (d) combining the graphene fiber with a plurality of fibers, the same type as or different than the graphene fiber, to form at least one fiber yarn; and (e) combining the at least one fiber yarn and a plurality of fiber yarns, the same type as or different than the at least one fiber yarn, to form the fabric.

First claim

We claim:

1. A process for producing a fabric containing a graphene-based continuous or long fiber made from graphene sheets, said process comprising:
(a) preparing a graphene dispersion having discrete unfunctionalized graphene sheets dispersed in a liquid medium;
(b) dispensing and depositing at least a continuous or long filament of said graphene dispersion onto a supporting substrate, wherein said dispensing and depositing procedure includes mechanical shear stress-induced alignment of said unfunctionalized graphene sheets along a filament axis direction, and partially or completely removing said liquid medium from said filament to form a continuous or long fiber comprising aligned unfunctionalized graphene sheets;
(c) bringing said continuous or long fiber in contact with a chemical functionalizing agent to functionalize said continuous or long fiber so as to produce a continuous or long fiber of chemically functionalized graphene sheets having chemical functional groups attached thereto and a non-carbon element content of 0.1% to 47% by weight;
(d) using heat, electromagnetic waves, UV light, high-energy radiation, or a combination thereof to induce chemical reactions or chemical bonding between chemical functional groups attached to adjacent chemically functionalized graphene sheets to form said long graphene fiber, wherein said continuous or long graphene fiber comprises chemically functionalized graphene sheets that are chemically bonded with one another having an inter-planar spacing d 002 from 0.36 nm to 1.5 nm as determined by X-ray diffraction and a non-carbon element content of 0.1% to 47% by weight and wherein said functionalized graphene sheets are substantially parallel to one another and parallel to a fiber axis direction and said fiber contains no core-shell structure, have no helically arranged graphene domains, and have a length no less than 0.5 cm and a physical density from 1.5 to 2.25 g/cm 3 ;
(e) combining said at least one continuous or long graphene fiber with a plurality of fibers, the same type as or different than said graphene fiber, to form at least one continuous or long fiber yarn; and
(f) combining said at least one continuous or long fiber yarn and a plurality of fiber yarns, the same type as or different than said at least one continuous or long fiber yarn, to form said fabric;
wherein said continuous or long fiber has a thermal conductivity of at least 1,000 W/mK or an electrical conductivity no less than 2,500 S/cm.

2. The process of claim 1 , further comprising a step of compressing said continuous or long fiber to increase a degree of graphene sheet orientation and physical density, and to improve contact between chemically functionalized graphene sheets.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein said chemically functionalized graphene sheets comprise a chemical functional group selected from the group consisting of hydroxyl, peroxide, ether, keto, aldehyde, alkyl or aryl silane, alkyl or aralkyl group, carboxyl group, carboxylic group, amine group, sulfonate group (—SO 3 H), quinoidal, fluorocarbon, 10,12-pentacosadiyn-1-ol, hydroiodic acid, 1-pyrenebutyric acid N-hydroxysuccinimide ester, 1-aminopyrene, amidoamines, polyamides, aliphatic amines, modified aliphatic amines, cycloaliphatic amines, aromatic amines, anhydrides, ketimines, diethylenetriamine (DETA), triethylene-tetramine (TETA), tetraethylene-pentamine (TEPA), polyethylene polyamine, polyamine epoxy adduct, phenolic hardener, non-brominated curing agent, non-amine curatives, derivatives thereof, and combinations thereof.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein said chemically functionalized graphene sheets comprise an azide derivative chemical functional group selected from the group consisting of 2-azidoethanol, 3-azidopropan-1-amine, 4-(2-azidoethoxy)-4-oxobutanoic acid, 2-azidoethyl-2-bromo-2-methylpropanoate, chlorocarbonate, azidocarbonate, dichlorocarbene, carbene, aryne, nitrene, (R-)-oxycarbonyl nitrenes, where R =any one of the following groups,

and combinations thereof.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein said chemically functionalized graphene sheets comprise a chemical functional group selected from the group consisting of —SO 3 H, —COOH, —NH 2 , —OH, —R′CHOH, —CHO, —CN, —COCl, halide, —COSH, —SH, —COOR′, —SR′, —SiR′ 3 , —Si(—OR′—) y R′ 3 -y, —Si(—O—SiR′ 2 —)OR′, —R″, Li, AlR′ 2 , Hg—X, TlZ 2 and Mg—X; wherein y is an integer equal to or less than 3, R′ is hydrogen, alkyl, aryl, cycloalkyl, or aralkyl, cycloaryl, or poly(alkylether), R″ is fluoroalkyl, fluoroaryl, fluorocycloalkyl, fluoroaralkyl or cycloaryl, X is halide, and Z is carboxylate or trifluoroacetate, derivatives thereof, and combinations thereof.

6. The process claim 1 , wherein said chemically functionalized graphene sheets comprise a chemical functional group selected from the group consisting of OY, NHY, O═C—OY, P═C—NR′Y, O═C—SY, O═C—Y, —CR′1—OY, N′Y or C′Y, a derivative thereof, or a combination thereof, and Y is a functional group of a protein, a peptide, an amino acid, an enzyme, an antibody, a nucleotide, an oligonucleotide, an antigen, or an enzyme substrate, enzyme inhibitor or the transition state analog of an enzyme substrate or is selected from R′—OH, R′—NR′ 2 , R′SH, R′CHO, R′CN, R′X, R′N + (R′) 3 X − , R′SiR′ 3 , R′Si(—OR′—) y R′ 3-y , R′Si(—O—SiR′ 2 —)OR′, R′—R″, R′—N—CO, (C 2 H 4 O—) w H, (—C 3 H 6 O—) w H, (—C 2 H 4 O) w —R′, (C 3 H 6 O) w —R′, R′, and w is an integer greater than one and less than 200.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein said continuous or long fiber has a thickness from 100 nm to 100 μm.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein said continuous or long fiber has a thermal conductivity of at least 1,200 W/mK or an electrical conductivity no less than 5,000 S/cm.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein said continuous or long fiber has a thermal conductivity of at least 1,200 W/mK, or an electrical conductivity no less than 8,000 S/cm.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein said continuous or long graphene fiber has a degree of orientation from 86% to 99%.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein said continuous or long fiber has a Young's modulus from 20 GPa to 300 GPa, or a tensile strength from 1.0 GPa to 5.0 GPa.

Assignees

• Nanotek Instruments Inc
• Global Graphene Group Inc

Inventors

• Zhamu Aruna
• Jang Bor Z

Classifications

• C01B2204/26

  Mechanical properties · CPC title

• C01P2006/10

  Solid density · CPC title

• D01F11/10

  of carbon · CPC title

• C01B2204/24

  Thermal properties · CPC title

• D01F9/12 Primary

  Carbon filaments; Apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture thereof · CPC title