Selenium nanomaterials and methods of making and using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11090629-B2
Application number	US-201615768389-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 13, 2016
Priority date	Oct 13, 2015
Publication date	Aug 17, 2021
Grant date	Aug 17, 2021

Abstract

Selenium nanomaterials and methods of making and using selenium nanomaterials are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the selenium nanomaterials can advantageously be used, for example, for removing mercury from air and/or water.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of preparing a selenium nanomaterial comprising:
forming a saccharide coating on a surface of and within a solid porous support material,
treating the solid porous support material having the saccharide coating on the surface of and within the solid porous support material with a selenous acid solution, and
heating the solid porous support material to form the selenium nanomaterial on the surface of and within the solid porous support material.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the surface comprises a sponge, a film, a fabric, a non-woven material, or a metal-organic framework (MOF), or a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the sponge comprises a hydrophilic surface, a polyamide, a polyurethane, or fibers having a diameter in a range of 10 μm to 30 μm, or a combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the surface comprises activated carbon.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the surface has a water contact angle of less than 90 degrees.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the saccharide comprises a monosaccharide, a disaccharide, or a polysaccharide, or a combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the saccharide comprises sucrose, or fructose, or a combination thereof.

8. A method of preparing a selenium nanomaterial comprising:
combining an aqueous solution of selenous acid with an aqueous solution of a reducing agent in the presence of a solid porous support material under conditions effective to form the selenium nanomaterial on a surface of the solid porous support material and within the solid porous support material.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the surface comprises a saccharide-treated material, and wherein the saccharide comprises a monosaccharide, a disaccharide, or a polysaccharide, or a combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the saccharide comprises sucrose, or fructose, or a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the method comprises forming a saccharide coating on the surface of the solid porous support material.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the surface comprises a sponge, a film, a fabric, a non-woven material, or a metal-organic framework (MOF), or a combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the sponge comprises a hydrophilic surface, a polyamide, a polyurethane, or fibers having a diameter in a range of 10 μm to 30 μm, or a combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the surface comprises activated carbon.

15. The method of claim 8 , wherein the surface has a water contact angle of less than 90 degrees.

Assignees

• Univ Minnesota

Inventors

• Abbas Abdennour
• Ahmed Snober

Classifications

• C01B19/02

  Elemental selenium or tellurium · CPC title

• C01P2004/32

  Spheres · CPC title

• C01P2004/52

  highly monodisperse size distribution · CPC title

• C01P2002/82

  by IR- or Raman-data · CPC title

• C01P2004/01

  depicted by an image · CPC title