Selenium nanomaterials and methods of making and using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12179170-B2
Application number	US-202117370123-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 8, 2021
Priority date	Oct 13, 2015
Publication date	Dec 31, 2024
Grant date	Dec 31, 2024

Abstract

Articles including a solid porous material having a selenium nanomaterial bound to a surface of and within the solid porous material. The article may be a include no polymeric stabilizer or proteinaceous stabilizer. The solid porous material may be a sponge, a film, a fabric, a non-woven material, or a metal-organic framework (MOF), or a combination thereof. The article may be produced by treating a solid porous material with an aqueous selenous acid solution and heating the solid porous material to form the selenium nanomaterial on the surface of and within the solid porous material.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An article comprising a solid porous material having a selenium nanomaterial bound to a surface of and within the solid porous material, the article made by the process comprising:
forming a saccharide coating on a surface of a solid support material;
treating the solid support material having the saccharide coating on the surface with a selenous acid solution; and
heating the solid support material to a temperature of at least 100 degrees Celsius and up to 170 degrees Celsius to form the selenium nanomaterial on the surface of and within the solid support material.

2. The article of claim 1 wherein the article does not comprise a polymeric stabilizer or a proteinaceous stabilizer.

3. The article of claim 1 wherein the solid porous material comprises a sponge, a film, a fabric, a non-woven material, or a metal-organic framework (MOF), or a combination thereof.

4. The article of claim 1 wherein the solid porous material comprises activated carbon.

5. The article of claim 4 wherein the porous material comprises a pellet.

6. The article of claim 1 wherein the solid porous support material comprises a sponge comprising 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.

7. The article of claim 1 wherein the solid porous material has a solid water distribution coefficient, Kd, of at least 10 exp 8 mL·g −1 for mercury, wherein the solid is the selenium nanomaterial.

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

9. The article of claim 1 having a maximal load capacity of at least 1900 milligrams mercury per gram of selenium.

10. The article of claim 1 wherein the article exhibits substantially irreversible binding with mercury wherein the selenium nanomaterials release less than 6% of absorbed mercury when exposed to thiourea, sodium hydroxide or 12M hydrochloric acid.

Assignees

• Univ Minnesota

Inventors

• Abbas Abdennour
• Ahmed Snober

Classifications

• C02F2103/007

  Contaminated open waterways, rivers, lakes or ponds · CPC title

• B01J20/3212

  consisting of a polymer obtained by reactions otherwise than involving only carbon to carbon unsaturated bonds · CPC title

• B01J20/28045

  Honeycomb or cellular structures; Solid foams or sponges · CPC title

• B01D2257/602

  Mercury or mercury compounds · CPC title

• B01D2253/25

  Coated, impregnated or composite adsorbents · CPC title