Electrolysis methods that utilize carbon dioxide and a non-iron additive for making desired nanocarbon allotropes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12320017-B2
Application number	US-202418614308-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 22, 2024
Priority date	Nov 24, 2021
Publication date	Jun 3, 2025
Grant date	Jun 3, 2025

Abstract

A method for producing a carbon nanomaterial (CNM) product comprises: heating an electrolyte media to obtain a molten electrolyte media; positioning the molten electrolyte media between an anode and a cathode of an electrolytic cell, in which the anode comprises a noble metal and the cathode comprises copper and nickel; introducing a source of carbon into the electrolytic cell; introducing a nickel-containing additive into the electrolyte media before the step of heating or introducing the nickel-containing additive into the molten electrolyte media, in which the iron-free additive is added in an amount of between 0.05 wt % and 2 wt %, relative to the amount of the electrolyte media or the molten electrolyte media; applying an electrical current to the cathode and the anode in the electrolytic cell; and collecting the CNM product from the cathode.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for producing a carbon nanomaterial (CNM) product, the method comprising steps of:
(a) heating an electrolyte media to obtain a molten electrolyte media;
(b) positioning the molten electrolyte media between an anode and a cathode of an electrolytic cell, wherein the anode comprises a noble metal and the cathode comprises copper and nickel;
(c) introducing a source of carbon into the electrolytic cell;
(d) introducing a nickel-containing additive into the electrolyte media before the step of heating or introducing the nickel-containing additive into the molten electrolyte media, wherein the nickel-containing additive is added in an amount of between 0.05 wt % and 2 wt %, relative to the amount of the electrolyte media or the molten electrolyte media;
(e) applying an electrical current to the cathode and the anode in the electrolytic cell; and
(f) collecting the CNM product from the cathode, wherein the CNM product comprises a minimum relative-amount of between 50 wt % and 99 wt %, relative to a total weight of the CNM product, of nano-rods that each have a squat, ring like ring structure.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical current has a current density of between about 0.05 A/cm 2 and 0.15 A/cm 2 .

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nickel-containing additive is added as a powder.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nickel-containing additive is added in an amount of between 0.1 wt % and 1.5 wt %, relative to the amount of the electrolyte media or the molten electrolyte media.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of washing the CNM product to remove molten electrolyte from the nano-rods.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of introducing a magnetic additive component into the electrolytic cell, wherein the magnetic additive component comprises a magnetic material addition component, a carbide-growth component or any combination thereof and wherein the nano-rods are magnetic and move when in a magnetic field.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of introducing a doping additive component into the electrolytic cell, wherein the nano-rods are doped and atoms of the doping additive component are directly incorporated throughout the nano-rods to impart desired physical and/or chemical properties to the nano-rods that are different than undoped nano-rods.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nano-rods have an I D /I G ratio of between about 0.6 to about 0.9, as measured by Raman spectroscopy.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical current has a current density of about 0.08 A/cm 2 .

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nickel-containing additive is added in an amount of about 0.8 wt %, relative to the amount of the electrolyte media or the molten electrolyte media.

Assignees

• C2Cnt Llc

Inventors

• Licht Stuart
• Licht Gad

Classifications

• C01B32/15

  Nano-sized carbon materials · CPC title

• D01F9/12

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

• C01P2002/90

  Other crystal-structural characteristics not specified above · CPC title

• C01P2002/88

  by thermal analysis data, e.g. TGA, DTA, DSC · CPC title

• C01B2204/04

  Specific amount of layers or specific thickness · CPC title