Submerged-plasma process for the production of nanostructured materials

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023077902-A1
Application number	US-202217932044-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 14, 2022
Priority date	Sep 15, 2021
Publication date	Mar 16, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

Described herein is a submerged-plasma process for the production of amorphous and nanocrystalline nanostructured materials, depending on processing conditions, from precursors that can be in the liquid or injected into the plasma or both.

First claim

1 . A method for producing a nanostructured material comprising:
(a) producing a zone of plasma; (b) submerging at least a portion of the jet of plasma in a quenching liquid; (c) contacting the submerged jet of plasma with a precursor material to form a nanostructured material; (d) injecting a precursor material into the plasma jet upstream of the quenching liquid; and (e) using the fabricated materials as synthesized or post annealing to modify the phase or microstructure or morphology.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the zone of plasma in step (a) is produced by a high-enthalpy arc-plasma setup or tungsten-arc plasma.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the zone of plasma in step (a) is produced by an inductively-coupled plasma setup.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the zone of high enthalpy in step (a) is produced by a flame that is electromagnetically or plasma assisted.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the quenching liquid comprises the precursor material.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the quenching liquid comprises high purity water or other solvent.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a portion of the precursor material remains unsubmerged.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the precursor material comprises a hydrocarbon, including methane

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the precursor material comprises a solid in the submerged liquid.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the precursor material comprises a liquid immediately prior to contacting plasma or contacting the plasma.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the precursor material comprises a gas immediately prior to contacting plasma or contacting the plasma.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the nanostructured material comprises a particle.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the nanostructured material comprises a film.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the nanostructured material comprises graphene nanoflakes or 2-D nanoflakes comprising h-BN or MoS 2 .

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the nanostructured material is amorphous.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising (f) annealing the amorphous nanostructured material to form an at least partially nanocrystalline material.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the nanostructured material is produced at a rate of greater than or on the order of about 1 pound/hour (˜0.45 kg/h).

18 . A nanostructured material produced by the method of claim 1 .

19 - 33 . (canceled)

Assignees

• Univ Rutgers

Inventors

• Tse Stephen D
• Meng Chuiyuan
• Nosker Thomas
• Kear Bernard H
• Mozael Mustafa M

Classifications

• B01J37/349

  making use of flames, plasmas or lasers · CPC title

• B01J37/341

  making use of electric or magnetic fields, wave energy or particle radiation (use of flames, plasma or lasers B01J37/349) · CPC title

• B82Y40/00

  Manufacture or treatment of nanostructures · CPC title

• C23C14/0623

  Sulfides, selenides or tellurides · CPC title

• C23C14/325 Primary

  Electric arc evaporation · CPC title