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.
Claims21
-16. (canceled)
A method of transporting a liquid through nanochannels of a material, the method comprising:
- providing a saturable material containing a precursor liquid comprising at least one solute and at least one vaporizable solvent;
- contacting a surface of a substrate with the saturable material, the substrate comprising nanochannels in open communication with the surface of the substrate and the nanochannels comprising diameters of about 300 nm or less;
- depositing a liquid film of the precursor liquid along interior surfaces of the nanochannels by maintaining contact between the saturable material and the substrate for a sufficient time for precursor liquid to migrate into the nanochannels;
- forming a film of solid material on the interior surfaces of the nanochannels of the substrate by removing the at least one vaporizable solvent from the deposited precursor liquid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.