Integral 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam and devices containing same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9878303-B1
Application number	US-201615228345-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 4, 2016
Priority date	Aug 4, 2016
Publication date	Jan 30, 2018
Grant date	Jan 30, 2018

Abstract

Provided is an integral 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam composed of multiple pores and pore walls, wherein pore walls contain single-layer or few-layer humic acid sheets chemically bonded by a carbon material at their edges and have a carbon material-to-humic acid weight ratio from 1/200 to 1/2, wherein the few-layer humic acid sheets have 2-10 layers of stacked substantially hexagonal carbon planes having an inter-plane spacing d 002 from 0.3354 nm to 0.40 nm as measured by X-ray diffraction and the single-layer or few-layer humic acid sheets contain 0.01% to 25% by weight of non-carbon elements wherein said humic acid is selected from oxidized humic acid, reduced humic acid, fluorinated humic acid, chlorinated humic acid, brominated humic acid, iodized humic acid, hydrogenated humic acid, nitrogenated humic acid, doped humic acid, chemically functionalized humic acid, or a combination thereof.

First claim

We claim:

1. An integral 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam composed of multiple pores and pore walls, wherein said pore walls contain single-layer or few-layer humic acid sheets chemically bonded by a carbon material at their edges and have a carbon material-to-humic acid weight ratio from 1/200 to 1/2, wherein few-layer is defined as having two to ten atomic layers and wherein said few-layer humic acid sheets have stacked substantially hexagonal carbon planes having an inter-plane spacing d 002 from 0.3354 nm to 0.40 nm as measured by X-ray diffraction and said single-layer or few-layer humic acid sheets contain 0.01% to 25% by weight of non-carbon elements wherein said humic acid is selected from oxidized humic acid, reduced humic acid, fluorinated humic acid, chlorinated humic acid, brominated humic acid, iodized humic acid, hydrogenated humic acid, nitrogenated humic acid, doped humic acid, chemically functionalized humic acid, or a combination thereof.

2. The integral 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 , wherein said hybrid foam has a density from 0.005 to 1.7 g/cm 3 , a specific surface area from 50 to 3,200 m 2 /g, a thermal conductivity from 200 to 400 W/mk per unit of specific gravity, and/or an electrical conductivity from 2,000 to 4000 S/cm per unit of specific gravity.

3. The integral 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 , wherein said hybrid foam has a density from 0.01 to 1.7 g/cm 3 or an average pore size from 2 nm to 50 nm.

4. The integral 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 , wherein said foam contains a content of non-carbon elements in the range of 0.01% to 20% by weight and said non-carbon elements include an element selected from oxygen, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, nitrogen, hydrogen, or boron.

5. The integral 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 , wherein said pore walls contain fluorinated humic acid and said foam contains a fluorine content from 0.01% to 15% by weight.

6. The 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 , wherein said pore walls contain oxidized humic acid and said foam contains an oxygen content from 0.01% to 20% by weight.

7. The 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 , wherein said foam has a specific surface area from 200 to 3,000 m 2 /g or a density from 0.1 to 1.2 g/cm 3 .

8. The 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 , which is in a continuous-length roll sheet form having a thickness from 100 nm to 10 cm and a length of at least 2 meters and is produced by a roll-to-roll process.

9. The 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 , wherein said foam has an oxygen content or non-carbon content less than 1% by weight, and said pore walls have stacked hexagonal carbon planes having an inter-planar spacing from 0.3354 nm to 0.35 nm, a thermal conductivity of at least 250 W/mK per unit of specific gravity, and/or an electrical conductivity no less than 2,500 S/cm per unit of specific gravity.

10. The 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 , wherein said foam has an oxygen content or non-carbon content less than 0.01% by weight and said pore walls contain stacked hexagonal carbon planes having an inter-planar spacing from 0.3354 nm to 0.34 nm, a thermal conductivity of at least 300 W/mK per unit of specific gravity, and/or an electrical conductivity no less than 3,000 S/cm per unit of specific gravity.

11. The 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 , wherein said foam has an oxygen content or non-carbon content no greater than 0.01% by weight and said pore walls contain stacked hexagonal carbon planes having an inter-planar spacing from 0.3354 nm to 0.336 nm, a thermal conductivity of at least 350 W/mK per unit of specific gravity, and/or an electrical conductivity no less than 3,500 S/cm per unit of specific gravity.

12. The 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 , wherein said foam has pore walls containing stacked hexagonal carbon planes having an inter-planar spacing from 0.3354 nm to 0.336 nm, a thermal conductivity greater than 400 W/mK per unit of specific gravity, and/or an electrical conductivity greater than 4,000 S/cm per unit of specific gravity.

13. The 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 , wherein the pore walls contain stacked hexagonal carbon planes having an inter-planar spacing from 0.3354 nm to 0.337 nm and a mosaic spread value from 0.2 to 1.0.

14. The 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 , wherein said pore walls contain a 3D network of interconnected hexagonal carbon planes.

15. The 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 , wherein said foam contains meso-scaled pores having a pore size from 2 nm to 50 nm.

16. An oil-removing or oil-separating device containing the 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 as an oil-absorbing element.

17. A solvent-removing or solvent-separating device containing the 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 as a solvent-absorbing or solvent-separating element.

18. A method to separate oil from water, said method comprising the steps of:
a. providing an oil-absorbing element comprising the integral 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 ;
b. contacting an oil-water mixture with said element, which absorbs the oil from the mixture;
c. retreating the element from the mixture and extracting the oil from the element; and
d. reusing the element.

19. A method to separate an organic solvent from a solvent-water mixture or from a multiple-solvent mixture, said method comprising the steps of:
a. providing an organic solvent-absorbing or solvent-separating element comprising the integral 3D humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 ;
b. bringing said element in contact with an organic solvent-water mixture or a multiple-solvent mixture containing a first solvent and at least a second solvent;
c. allowing said element to absorb the organic solvent from the mixture or separate said first solvent from said at least second solvent;
d. retreating the element from the mixture and extracting the organic solvent or first solvent from the element; and
e. reusing the element.

20. A thermal management device containing the 3D integral humic acid-carbon hybrid foam of claim 1 as a heat spreading or heat dissipating element.

21. The thermal management device of claim 20 , which contains a device selected from a heat exchanger, heat sink, heat pipe, high-conductivity insert, conductive plate between a heat sink and a heat source, heat-spreading component, heat-dissipating component, thermal interface medium, or thermoelectric or Peltier cooling device.

Assignees

• Nanotek Instruments Inc

Inventors

• Zhamu Aruna
• Jang Bor Z

Classifications

• C02F1/283

  using coal, charred products, or inorganic mixtures containing them · CPC title

• B01J20/28064

  being in the range 500-1000 m2/g · CPC title

• B01J20/28011

  Other properties, e.g. density, crush strength · CPC title

• C09K3/32

  for absorbing liquids to remove pollution, e.g. oil, gasoline, fat · CPC title

• B01J20/28004

  Sorbent size or size distribution, e.g. particle size · CPC title