Humic acid-derived conductive foams and devices

Abstract

A humic acid-derived foam composed of multiple pores and pore walls, wherein the pore walls contain single-layer or few-layer humic acid-derived hexagonal carbon atomic planes or sheets, the few-layerhexagonal carbon atomic planes or sheets have 2-10 layers of stacked hexagonal carbon atomic planes having an inter-planar spacing d002#191 from 0.3354 nm to 0.40 nm as measured by X-ray diffraction,and the single-layer or few-layer hexagonal carbon atomic planes contain 0.01% to 25% by weight of non-carbon elements, and wherein the humic acid is selected from oxidized humic acid, reduced humicacid, fluorinated humic acid, chlorinated humic acid, brominated humic acid, iodized humic acid, hydrogenated humic acid, nitrogenated humic acid, doped humic acid, chemically functionalized humic acid, or a combination thereof.

Description

[0001] Cross References to Related Applications [0002] This application claims priority to US Patent Application No. 15 / 251,841, filed August 30, 2016, and US Patent Application No. 15 / 251,849, filed August 30, 2016, which are hereby incorporated by reference. technical field [0003] The present invention relates generally to the field of carbon / graphite foams, and more particularly to a new form of humic acid-derived conductive foam, devices containing such humic acid-derived foam, and methods for its production. Background technique [0004] Carbon is known to have five unique crystal structures, including diamond, fullerene (0-D nanographite material), carbon nanotube or carbon nanofiber (1-D nanographite material), graphene (2-D nanographite material), and graphite (3-D graphite material). All of these materials, except fullerenes, can be made into foam structures. [0005] Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) refer to tubular structures grown with single or multiple walls. Car...

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Problems solved by technology

[0014] (2) The chemical treatment process requires a long intercalation and oxidation time, typically 5 hours to 5 days

[0016] (4) Thermal expansion requires high temperature (typically 800°C-1,200°C) and is therefore a highly energy-consuming process

[0017] (5) Both heat- and solution-induced puffing methods require very tedious washing and purification steps

There are several major problems associated with this method: (a) the high pressure requirement makes it an impractical method for industrial scale production

There are several problems associated with this approach: (a) catalytic CVD is inherently a very slow, highly energy-intensive, and expensive process; (b) etchant is typically a highly undesirable chemical and the resulting Ni-containing etching solution is a source of contamination

This method also has several disadvantages: (a) the method requires very tedious chemical treatment of both graphene oxide and PS particles

This method does not involve the use of environmentally unfriendly chemicals

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