Transport of liquids and solute materials in nanochannels
AssigneeApplied Thin Films, Inc.
InventorsSankar Sambasivan, Francis Richard Chapman, Jeffrey W. Donelan, Christopher J. Garcia
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Abstract
Transport of a vaporizable liquid containing at least one solute through a material containing nanochannels is performed by contacting material with at least one vaporizable liquid component and inducing liquid transport along nanochannel interior wall surfaces, wherein the material contains nanochannels having an average diameter up to about 300 nm, preferably up to about 100 nm, and liquid transport is induced by partial liquid vaporization. A film of solid material is deposited onto an Interior nanochannel wall surface by removing the transport liquid.
Claims20
A method of separating a first solute from a second solute in a first liquid, the method comprising:
- contacting a first surface of a material with the first liquid, the first liquid comprising the first solute, the second solute, and at least one vaporizable solvent, the material containing nanochannels, and the nanochannels being in open communication with the first surface and with a second surface of the material;
- maintaining contact of the first liquid with the first surface under temperature and pressure conditions sufficient to cause partial vaporization of the vaporizable solvent within the nanochannels, wherein the partial vaporization causes the first liquid to be transported as annular flow along interior wall surfaces of the nanochannels;
- and
- the first solute being transported more quickly through the nanochannels than the second solute is being transported through the nanochannels, and the first solute reaching the second surface faster than the second solute.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.