Tunable graphene-based membranes and method of making the same
AssigneeOra Graphene Audio Inc.
InventorsKaiwen Hu, Xavier Cauchy, Robert-Eric Gaskell
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Abstract
There is provided a graphene-based membrane where the mechanical properties, thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, and/or three-dimensional curvature of the membrane have been tuned according to the desired application of the membrane. Methods of accelerating the vacuum-assisted self-assembly (VASA) process for graphene-based membranes and methods for accelerating the process of removing liquid from a graphene-based dispersion are also provided. The method can include two steps of reduction to both minimize the filtration time and to substantially restore the electrical and thermal properties of a graphene-based membrane at low temperature.
Claims9
A method of forming a graphene-based membrane, the method comprising:
- a) obtaining a dispersion comprising graphene material dispersed within a solvent, the graphene material having at least one of graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide;
- and
- b) filtering the dispersion through a filter membrane supported by a porous funnel having a tridimensional curved shape and giving the filter membrane a tridimensional curved geometry corresponding to the porous funnel's geometry, said filtering including the solvent flowing through the filter membrane, thereby forming the graphene-based membrane, the graphene-based membrane having a tridimensional curved shape mimicking the tridimensional curved geometry of the filter membrane,
- wherein the filtering of the dispersion is performed by a pressure assisted vacuum filtration including
- pumping compressed air to apply a positive pressure on the feed side of the filter membrane, the positive pressure being above atmospheric pressure, and
- applying a vacuum on the filtrate side of the filter membrane, the vacuum being below atmospheric pressure, and
- wherein the graphene-based membrane has a thickness greater than 5 μm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.