Methods for producing carbon fibers from poly-(caffeyl alcohol)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9890480-B2
Application number	US-201514729369-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 3, 2015
Priority date	Jun 5, 2014
Publication date	Feb 13, 2018
Grant date	Feb 13, 2018

Abstract

Poly-(caffeyl alcohol) (PCFA), also known as C-lignin, is a promising new source of both carbon fibers and pure carbon. PCFA can be used to produce carbon fibers by direct electrospinning, without blending with another polymer to reduce breakage. Analyses have shown that the carbon obtained from PCFA is superior to that obtained from other lignins. The fibers formed from PCFA are smoother, have a narrower diameter distribution, and show very low defects. The PCFA can be obtained by extraction from plant seed coats. Examples of these plants include the vanilla orchid, Vanilla planifolia , and Jatropha curcas . The fibers may be formed through electrospinning, although other methods for forming the fibers, such as extrusion with a carrier polymer, could be used. The fibers may then be carbonized to increase the carbon yield.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for producing carbon fibers derived from poly-(caffeyl alcohol) (PCFA), comprising:
extracting poly-(caffeyl alcohol) (PCFA) from a plant to produce extracted PCFA; and
electrospinning the extracted PCFA to produce carbon fibers, wherein the carbon fibers consist of 100 wt. % PCFA.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of carbonizing the carbon fibers.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the carbonizing is carried out at 900° C.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of electrospinning comprises preparing a 50% solution of the extracted PCFA in dioxane and electrospinning the solution through a syringe needle to which a voltage is applied.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plant is Vanilla planifolia or Jatropha curcas.

6. A method for producing carbon fibers derived from poly-(caffeyl alcohol) (PCFA), comprising:
extracting poly-(caffeyl alcohol) (PCFA) from a plant to produce extracted PCFA;
combining the extracted PCFA with a polymer carrier to produce a PCFA polymer mixture; and
extruding the PCFA polymer mixture through an extruder to produce carbon fibers, wherein the carbon fibers comprise PCFA at about 10 wt. % to about 90 wt. %.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising the step of carbonizing the carbon fibers.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the carbonizing is carried out at 900° C.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the plant is Vanilla planifolia or Jatropha curcas.

Assignees

• Univ North Texas

Inventors

• Dixon Richard
• Dsouza Nandika
• Chen Fang
• Nar Mangesh

Classifications

• D01D5/003

  the material being a polymer solution or dispersion (D01D5/0053 takes precedence) · CPC title

• D01D5/0038

  the fibre formed by solvent evaporation, i.e. dry electro-spinning · CPC title

• D01D5/0023

  the material being a polymer melt · CPC title

• Y10T428/2918

  including free carbon or carbide or therewith [not as steel] · CPC title

• D01D5/0046

  the fibre formed by coagulation, i.e. wet electro-spinning · CPC title