Processes for making aerogel-electrolyte-metal composites
AssigneesAerogel Composite, LLC, University of Connecticut
InventorsCan Erkey, Hiroaki S. Hara
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process for making an aerogel-electrolyte-metal composite includes contacting an aerogel with an electrolyte to form an aerogel-electrolyte composite; contacting the aerogel-electrolyte composite with a metal precursor to form an aerogel-electrolyte-precursor composite; and converting the metal precursor of the aerogel-electrolyte-precursor composite to metal crystals to form the aerogel-electrolyte-metal composite. In addition, an aerogel-electrolyte-metal composite is formed by the process, wherein the average longest dimension of the metal crystals is about 1 to about 3 nanometers, and wherein the metal crystals are about 30% to about 100% dispersed.
Claims24
A process for making an aerogel-electrolyte metal composite, comprising:
- contacting an aerogel with an electrolyte to form an aerogel-electrolyte composite;
- contacting the aerogel-electrolyte composite with a metal precursor by placing the aerogel-electrolyte composite in a supercritical fluid containing the metal precursor to form an aerogel-electrolyte-precursor composite;
- and
- converting the metal precursor of the aerogel-electrolyte-precursor composite to metal crystals to form the aerogel-electrolyle-metal composite.
A process for making a carbon-electrolyte-metal composite, comprising:
- immersing a carbon aerogel in a solution which contains an electrolyte to impregnate the carbon aerogel with the electrolyte solution;
- drying the electrolyte solution-impregnated carbon aerogel to form a carbon aerogel-electrolyte composite;
- contacting the carbon aerogel-electrolyte composite n a metal precursor by placing the aerogel-electrolyte composite in a supercritical fluid containing the metal precursor to form a carbon aerogel-electrolyte-metal precursor composite;
- and
- converting the metal precursor of the carbon aerogel-electrolyte-metal precursor composite to metal crystals to form the carbon aerogel-electrolyte-metal composite.
A process of making a carbon aerogel-electrolyte-metal composite, comprising:
- contacting a carbon aerogel with a metal precursor by placing the aerogel in a supercritical fluid containing the metal precursor to form a carbon aerogel-metal precursor composite;
- converting the metal precursor of the carbon aerogel-metal precursor composite to metal crystals to form a carbon aerogel-metal composite;
- immersing the carbon aerogel-metal composite in solution which contains electrolyte to impregnate the electrolyte into the carbon aerogel-metal composite;
- and
- drying the electrolyte solution-impregnated carbon aerogel-metal composite to form a carbon aerogel-electrolyte-metal composite.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.