Method for making a polyurethane composite material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12415737-B2
Application number	US-202318117278-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2023
Priority date	Jul 24, 2019
Publication date	Sep 16, 2025
Grant date	Sep 16, 2025

Abstract

A composite material of polyurethane foam having a layer of reduced graphene oxide and polystyrene is described. This composite material may be made by contacting a polyurethane foam with a suspension of reduced graphene oxide, drying, and then irradiating in the presence of styrene vapor. The composite material has a hydrophobic surface that may be exploited for separating a nonpolar phase, such as oil, from an aqueous solution.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of making a composite material, comprising:
contacting a polyurethane foam with a suspension of r-GO in an alcohol to produce a wet scaffold of r-GO coating at least 70% of a total of an exterior and an interior surface of the polyurethane foam;
drying the wet scaffold to produce a r-GO grafted polyurethane composite; and
irradiating the r-GO grafted polyurethane composite in the presence of a styrene vapor to obtain the layer of polystyrene in contact with the surface of the r-GO layer opposite to the polyurethane foam and produce the composite material;
wherein the composite material has pore diameters in a range of 50-500 μm wherein the polyurethane foam comprises an open-cell structure having the exterior surface and containing pores having the interior surface; and wherein the layer of polystyrene is in contact with both the surface of the layer of r-GO and directly in contact with the surface of the polyurethane foam, wherein an average thickness of the polystyrene layer is from 500 nm to 4.5 μm.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising
contacting the composite material with toluene after the irradiating.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polyurethane foam has a BET surface area in a range of 5-20 m 2 /g.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the r-GO grafted polyurethane composite has a BET surface area in a range of 5-20 m 2 /g.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the r-GO is present in the suspension at a concentration of 0.1-5 mg/mL.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the irradiating comprises exposing the r-GO grafted polyurethane composite to sunlight.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the r-GO layer comprises nanoplatelets having a thickness of from 40 nm to 110 nm, diameters of from 5 μm to 45 μm and a length to thickness aspect ratio of from 40:1 to 1,200:1.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the r-GO layer comprises carbon nanotubes at a weight percentage of from 5 wt % to 80 wt % relative to a total weight of the r-GO.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polystyrene is covalently bonded to the r-GO.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein an apparent contact angle of the composite material with water is 130°-170°.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the composite material has a BET surface area in a range of 50-100 m 2 /g.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least 70% of a total surface area of the exterior surface and the interior pore surface of the composite material is comprised of the layer of polystyrene.

Assignees

• Univ King Fahd Pet & Minerals

Inventors

• Awadh Tawfik Abdo Saleh
• Baig Nadeem

Classifications

• B01J20/262

  obtained otherwise than by reactions only involving carbon to carbon unsaturated bonds, e.g. obtained by polycondensation (macromolecular compounds obtained otherwise than by reactions only involving unsaturated carbon-to-carbon bonds per se C08G) · CPC title

• C02F2101/32

  Hydrocarbons, e.g. oil · CPC title

• C02F1/285

  using synthetic organic sorbents · CPC title

• C02F1/281

  using inorganic sorbents · CPC title

• B01J20/327

  Polymers obtained by reactions involving only carbon to carbon unsaturated bonds · CPC title