Reactor for Hydrothermal Growth of Structured Materials
AssigneeMolecule Works Inc.
InventorWei LIU
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Abstract
Design, fabrication, and usage of a reactor are presented for synthesis of structured materials from a liquid-phase precursor by heating. The structured materials are particles, membranes or films of micro-porous molecular sieve crystals such as zeolite and meso-porous materials. The precursor solution and structured materials in the reactor are uniformly heated by a planar heater with characteristic heat transfer dimension in the range of 3 mm to 10 cm. A planar heater having width and length at least three times of the characteristic heat transfer dimension provides at least one surface of uniform temperature distribution for heating purposes. Heating is conducted over a temperature range of 20 to 300° C. The planar heater can be heated by electrical power of by thermal fluid.
Claims20
A porous structured material made by a hydrothermal growth reactor, the hydrothermal growth reactor comprising:
- a plate-shaped reactor vessel configured to contain a solution comprising a precursor and a structured material within a slot having an aperture in the range of 3 mm to 10 cm, the reactor vessel having a plate width and length at least three times an aperture size of the slot;
- at least one major surface heating area of the reactor vessel capable of heating the solution inside contained in the slot in the reactor vessel at a heating rate to minimize a temperature variance inside a reactor growth zone;
- and
- at least one removable cover for transporting the structured material out of the reactor vessel,
- wherein the reactor is configured for synthesis of the porous structured material in a solution by heating at a temperature less than 300° C.
A method of making a porous structured material comprising:
- providing a hydrothermal growth reactor comprising:
- a reactor vessel for containment of a precursor and a structured material, the reactor vessel comprising at least two planar heaters configured with even spacing having an aperture in the range of 3 mm to 10 cm and for uniform heating at a controllable rate of the precursor and the structured material, wherein a width and a length of the planar heater is at least three times the spacing;
- and
- at least one removable cover configured to transport the structured material into and out of the reactor vessel;
- providing a structured material to the aperture;
- providing a growth solution comprising the precursor to the reactor vessel;
- and
- synthesizing the porous structured material on the structured material by heating at a temperature less than 300° C.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.