Gas barrier material with atomic sheet

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9598165-B2
Application number	US-201314045368-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 3, 2013
Priority date	Oct 8, 2012
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

A gas barrier material includes an atomic sheet, such as graphene and/or an analog of graphene. The gas barrier material can be arranged as part of a component, such as a container or other vessel, to limit the flow or permeation of gas through the component. Where the component is a container or part of a container, the gas barrier material may be formulated and arranged to limit or prevent gas ingress or egress with respect to the internal volume of the container. The atomic sheet offers improved gas barrier properties compared to traditional polymeric barrier materials and is particularly useful in applications where it is desired to limit permeation of small gas molecules such as helium, such as airships or other lighter than air vehicles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An airship comprising a container having an internal volume of gas, the container comprising a gas barrier material, the gas barrier material comprising:
a sheet of material having a characteristic gas permeability; and
one or more atomic sheets arranged along the sheet of material so that the gas barrier material has a gas permeability less than the characteristic gas permeability of the sheet of material at locations along the gas barrier material where the one or more atomic sheets are present,
wherein the one or more atomic sheets comprises graphene that is at least partially fluorinated or carbon nitride.

2. The airship of claim 1 , wherein the one or more atomic sheets comprises graphene.

3. The airship of claim 2 , wherein the graphene is functionalized.

4. The airship of claim 1 , wherein the one or more atomic sheets comprises carbon nitride.

5. The airship of claim 1 , wherein the one or more atomic sheets comprises at least one atomic sheet intercalated in the sheet of material.

6. The airship of claim 1 , wherein the one or more atomic sheets includes a plurality of at least partially overlapping atomic sheets.

7. The airship of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of atomic sheets is in the form of flakes.

8. The airship of claim 1 , wherein the one or more atomic sheets are arranged along the sheet of material as a coextensive layer.

9. An airship comprising a container having an internal volume of gas, the container comprising:
a panel in contact with the internal volume of gas, the panel comprising a sheet of material having a characteristic gas permeability; and
one or more atomic sheets located along the panel so that the panel has a gas permeability less than the characteristic gas permeability of the sheet of material at the location of the atomic sheets,
wherein the one or more atomic sheet(s) comprises graphene that is at least partially fluorinated or carbon nitride.

10. The airship of claim 9 , wherein the one or more atomic sheets comprises at least one atomic sheet intercalated in the sheet of material.

11. The airship of claim 9 , wherein the one or more atomic sheets comprises at least one functionalized atomic sheet.

12. The airship of claim 9 , further comprising a coating disposed over at least a portion of the panel, wherein the coating comprises at least one of the one or more atomic sheets.

13. The airship of claim 9 , further comprising:
a plurality of panels, each panel having an edge;
a seam formed where the edge of one of the panels joins the edge of another panel; and
a coating comprising at least one of the one or more atomic sheets, wherein the coating is disposed over the seam.

14. The airship of claim 9 , wherein the sheet of material comprises a sheet of polymer-based material and at least one of the one or more atomic sheets is intercalated in the sheet of polymer-based material.

15. The airship of claim 9 , wherein the sheet of material comprises a sheet of polymer-based material and at least one of the one or more atomic sheets is arranged along the sheet of polymer-based material as a coextensive layer.

16. The airship of claim 9 , wherein the internal volume of gas comprises helium.

17. The airship of claim 9 , further comprising an exterior coating comprising at least one of the one or more atomic sheets.

18. The airship of claim 17 , wherein the coating comprises fluorinated graphene.

19. The airship of claim 18 , wherein the fluorinated graphene is partially fluorinated graphene.

20. A method of making the airship of claim 9 , comprising the steps of:
at least partially filling the container with gas; and
applying a solution over an exterior surface of the container, wherein the solution comprises a plurality of the atomic sheets in the form of flakes.

Assignees

• Lockheed Corp

Inventors

• Bullock Steven Edward
• Ballester Jaime

Classifications

• B64B1/58 Primary

  Arrangements or construction of gas-bags; Filling arrangements · CPC title

• Y10T428/24752

  Laterally noncoextensive components · CPC title

• C08K3/04 Primary

  Carbon · CPC title

• C08K2003/385

  Binary compounds of nitrogen with boron · CPC title

• C09D7/1291

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic