Porous substrates, articles, systems and compositions comprising nanofibers and methods of their use and production
AssigneeNanosys, Inc.
InventorsRobert Dubrow, Chunming Niu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Porous nanofiber bearing substrate materials are provided having enhanced surface area for a variety of applications including as electrical substrates, semipermeable membranes and barriers, structural lattices for tissue culturing and for composite materials, and the like.
Claims58
An article, comprising:
- a substrate having a plurality of apertures disposed therethrough, the substrate comprising an overall surface area that includes an interior wall surface area of the plurality of apertures;
- and
- a plurality of nanofibers attached to at least a portion of the overall surface area of the substrate.
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An article, comprising a nanofibrous mat that comprises a plurality of overlaid nanofibers, wherein said plurality of nanofibers are crosslinked together at points where such nanofibers contact or are proximal to others of said nanofibers, to form a semipermeable layer.
A semipermeable membrane, comprising:
- a porous substrate having a plurality of apertures disposed therethrough, the porous substrate having an overall surface that includes an interior wall surface of the apertures;
- and
- a plurality of nanofibers deposited upon or attached to at least a portion of the overall surface of the porous substrate, wherein the nanofibers and apertures together define a pore through the semipermeable membrane, the pore being permeable to one or more materials and not permeable to one or more different materials.
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A filter cartridge, comprising the semipermeable membrane of claim 52, disposed within a housing having an inlet passage in fluid communication with a first side of the semipermeable membrane and an outlet side in fluid communication with a second side of the semipermeable membrane.
The filter cartridge of claim 53, wherein the housing is coupled to a breathing mask to filter breathing air.
An article of clothing comprising the semipermeable membrane of claim 52, layered with at least a second fabric layer.
An electrical device, comprising:
- a porous substrate having a plurality of apertures disposed therethrough, the porous substrate having an overall surface area that includes an interior wall surface area of the plurality of apertures;
- and
- a plurality of conductive or semiconductive nanowires attached to and electrically coupled to the porous substrate.
A photovoltaic device, comprising:
- a first electrical device of claim 48, wherein the plurality of nanowires comprises a first energy band gap;
- and
- a second electrical device of claim 48, wherein the plurality of nanowires comprises a second energy band gap;
- the first and second energy band gaps displaying a type-II band gap offset relative to each other;
- and
- wherein the nanowires of the first electrical device are in electrical communication with the nanowires of the second electrical device, so as to allow charge separation between the first and second electrical devices upon exposure to light.
A method of producing a contiguous population of nanofibers, comprising:
- providing a porous substrate having an overall surface area;
- providing a plurality of nanofibers attached to the overall surface area of the porous substrate.
A method of producing a contiguous population of nanofibers, comprising:
- providing a porous substrate having an upper surface an a plurality of pores disposed through the porous substrate, wherein each of said pores has an effective pore size;
- depositing a plurality of nanofibers onto the upper surface of the porous substrate, said nanofibers having at least one dimension greater than the effective pore size, such that the nanofibers are retained upon the upper surface as a nanofibrous mat;
- and
- crosslinking individual nanofibers in the plurality of nanofibers with other individual nanofibers of the plurality of nanofibers to produce a contiguous nanofiber population.
A method of filtering a fluid or gas, comprising:
- providing a substrate having a plurality of apertures disposed therethrough to provide a porous substrate that has an overall surface area that includes an interior wall surface area of the apertures, the substrate comprising a plurality of nanowires attached to at least a portion of the overall surface area of the porous substrate;
- and
- passing the gas or liquid through the porous substrate to filter the gas or liquid.
A method of producing a gas permeable moisture barrier, comprising:
- providing a porous substrate that comprises a plurality of apertures therethrough;
- providing a plurality of nanofibers attached to at least a portion of an overall surface area of the porous substrate, the porous substrate and nanofibers together providing a gas permeable barrier;
- and
- treating at least the nanofibers to increase hydrophobicity of the nanofibers attached to the overall surface of the porous substrate, to provide a gas permeable moisture barrier.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.