Humic Acid Derived Conductive Foams and Devices

Abstract

A foam derived from humic acid, which is composed of a plurality of pores and pore walls, wherein the pore walls contain monolayer or few-layer humic acid-derived hexagonal carbon atom planes or sheets, and the few-layer hexagonal carbon atom planes Or the sheet has 2-10 layers of stacked hexagonal carbon atom planes with an interplanar spacing d of from 0.3354 nm to 0.40 nm as measured by X-ray diffraction? 002#191, and the single-layer or few-layer hexagonal carbon atom plane contains 0.01% to 25% by weight of non-carbon elements, and wherein the humic acid is selected from oxidized humic acid, reduced humic acid , fluorinated humic acids, chlorinated humic acids, brominated humic acids, iodized humic acids, hydrogenated humic acids, nitrogenated humic acids, doped humic acids, chemical Functionalized humic acids, or combinations 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...

AI Technical Summary

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

(b) Removal of PS by toluene also leads to a weakened macroporous structure

Images