Superhydrophilic nanostructure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9028958-B2
Application number	US-201013265377-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 6, 2010
Priority date	May 8, 2009
Publication date	May 12, 2015
Grant date	May 12, 2015

Abstract

An embodiment of a superhydrophilic nanostructure includes nanoparticles. The nanoparticles are formed into porous clusters. The porous clusters are formed into aggregate clusters. An embodiment of an article of manufacture includes the superhydrophilic nanostructure on a substrate. An embodiment of a method of fabricating a superhydrophilic nanostructure includes applying a solution that includes nanoparticles to a substrate. The substrate is heated to form aggregate clusters of porous clusters of the nanoparticles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A superhydrophilic nanostructure comprising:
aggregate clusters, the aggregate clusters having dimensions of about 150 nanometers to 5 microns and comprising porous clusters, the porous clusters having dimensions of about 20 nanometers to 600 nanometers and comprising nanoparticles, and the nanoparticles having dimensions of about 1 nanometer to 100 nanometers.

2. An article of manufacture comprising:
a substrate; and
a superhydrophilic nanostructure disposed on at least a portion of a surface of the substrate, the superhydrophilic nanostructure comprising aggregate clusters, the aggregate clusters having dimensions of about 150 nanometers to 5 microns and comprising porous clusters, the porous clusters having dimensions of about 20 nanometers to 600 nanometers and comprising nanoparticles, and the nanoparticles having dimensions of about 1 nanometer to 100 nanometers.

3. The article of manufacture of claim 2 wherein the nanoparticles comprise titanium dioxide.

4. The article of manufacture of claim 3 wherein the nanoparticles further comprise a dopant.

5. The article of manufacture of claim 4 wherein the dopant is selected from a group consisting of hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, carbon, boron, and a combination thereof.

6. The article of manufacture of claim 2 wherein the nanoparticles have dimensions of about 1 nanometer to 50 nanometers.

7. The article of manufacture of claim 2 wherein the porous clusters have dimensions of about 50 nanometers to 600 nanometers.

8. The article of manufacture of claim 2 wherein the aggregate clusters have dimensions of about 200 nanometers to 5 microns.

9. A method of fabricating a superhydrophilic nanostructure comprising:
(a) applying a solution that includes nanoparticles to a substrate; and
(b) heating the substrate to form aggregate clusters, each of the aggregate clusters comprising porous clusters of the nanoparticles, the aggregate clusters having dimensions of about 150 nanometers to 5 microns, the porous clusters having dimensions of about 20 nanometers to 600 nanometers, and the nanoparticles having dimensions of about 1 nanometer to 100 nanometers.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising forming the nanoparticles.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein forming the nanoparticles comprises forming the nanoparticles using an electrochemistry technique.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein forming the nanoparticles comprises forming the nanoparticles using a sol-gel technique.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein operation (a) comprises spin casting the solution onto the substrate.

14. The superhydrophilic nanostructure of claim 1 wherein the nanoparticles comprise titanium dioxide.

15. The superhydrophilic nanostructure of claim 14 wherein the nanoparticles further comprise a dopant.

16. The superhydrophilic nanostructure of claim 15 wherein the dopant is selected from a group consisting of hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, carbon, boron, and a combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 9 wherein the nanoparticles comprise titanium dioxide.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the nanoparticles further comprise a dopant.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the dopant is selected from a group consisting of hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, carbon, boron, and a combination thereof.

Assignees

• Mao Samuel S
• Zormpa Vasileia
• Chen Xiaobo
• Univ California

Inventors

• Mao Samuel S
• Zormpa Vasileia
• Chen Xiaobo

Classifications

• C01P2004/04

  obtained by TEM, STEM, STM or AFM · CPC title

• C01P2004/64

  Nanometer sized, i.e. from 1-100 nanometer · CPC title

• C01P2002/52

  containing elements as dopants · CPC title

• C01P2006/60

  Optical properties, e.g. expressed in CIELAB-values · CPC title

• C03C17/007 Primary

  containing a dispersed phase, e.g. particles, fibres or flakes, in a continuous phase · CPC title