Separation membrane and methods of preparation thereof
AssigneeAspen Products Group, Inc.
InventorsMark D. Fokema, Decio Coutinho
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A membrane for fluid species transport includes a porous substrate and a selective-transport layer comprising 2-D-material flakes. The porous substrate defines surface pores with dimensions larger than 2 microns, and the selective-transport layer coats the porous substrate and spans across the surface pores. The porous substrate can be contacted with a liquid or coating to fill or coat the surface pores of the porous substrate. Next, a 2-D-material-flake solution is deposited on the porous substrate. Evaporation of solvent from the deposited 2-D-material-flake solution forms the selective-transport layer.
Claims6
A method for fabricating a membrane, the method comprising:
- contacting a porous substrate that defines open surface pores with a liquid solution to fill or wet the open surface pores of the porous substrate, wherein the liquid solution comprises a solvent and a solute dissolved in the solvent;
- then
- removing the solvent from the liquid solution to modify the surface charge of the open surface pores with a solute from the liquid solution so as to produce open surface-modified pores with dimensions of at least about 2 microns;
- then
- depositing a 2-D-material-flake solution comprising 2-D-material flakes on the porous substrate with the open surface-modified pores and without a support layer between the otherwise open surface-modified pores of the porous substrate and the selective-transport layer to form a 2-D-material-flake-solution layer with a thickness of less than 40 microns, wherein the solute promotes aggregation of the 2-D-material flakes to inhibit penetration of the 2-D-material flakes into the otherwise open surface-modified pores;
- and then
- evaporating solvent from the 2-D-material-flake-solution layer to form a selective-transport layer comprising 2-D-material flakes on the porous substrate, wherein the selective-transport layer coats the porous substrate and spans across the otherwise open surface-modified pores.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.