Production of carbon materials via metal melt spinning
Transforming a first carbon material into a second carbon material includes preparing a solid metal-carbon alloy including a metal and the first carbon material, heat treating the solid metal-carbon alloy to form a first mixture including the metal and the second carbon material, and contacting the first mixture with a quantity of hydrogen halide to yield a quantity of hydrogen gas, a second mixture including the second carbon material, and a metal halide including the metal. The first carbon material is dissolved in the metal, and the second carbon material differs from the first carbon material.
1 . A method of transforming a first carbon material into a second carbon material, the method comprising:
preparing a solid metal-carbon alloy comprising a metal and the first carbon material, wherein the first carbon material is dissolved in the metal;
heat treating the solid metal-carbon alloy, thereby forming a first mixture comprising the metal and the second carbon material, wherein the second carbon material differs from the first carbon material; and
contacting the first mixture with a quantity of hydrogen halide to yield a quantity of hydrogen gas and a second mixture comprising the second carbon material and a metal halide comprising the metal.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising separating components of the second mixture to yield a quantity of the metal halide and a quantity of the second carbon material.
3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising contacting the quantity of the metal halide with an additional quantity of hydrogen gas to yield a quantity of the metal and an additional quantity of the hydrogen halide, wherein the additional quantity of the hydrogen halide is gaseous.
4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising contacting an additional quantity of the second mixture with the additional quantity of the hydrogen halide gas.
5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein contacting the quantity of the metal halide with the additional quantity of the hydrogen gas comprises chemical reduction of the metal in the metal halide to yield the metal and the additional quantity of the hydrogen halide.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the chemical reduction occurs at a temperature greater than about 500° C.
7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the additional quantity of the hydrogen gas comprises the quantity of the hydrogen gas.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein preparing the solid metal-carbon alloy comprises:
preparing a molten metal-carbon alloy comprising the metal and the first carbon material; and
solidifying the molten metal-carbon alloy to yield the solid metal-carbon alloy.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein solidifying the molten metal-carbon alloy promotes supersaturation of the metal with the first carbon material.
10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein solidifying the molten metal-carbon alloy comprises cooling the molten metal-carbon alloy.
11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein cooling the molten metal-carbon alloy comprises cooling at a rate of at least 10,000° C./second.
12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein solidifying the molten metal-carbon alloy comprises melt spinning the molten metal-carbon alloy.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein melt spinning the molten metal-carbon alloy comprises contacting the molten metal-carbon alloy with a spinning wheel comprising copper.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein melt spinning the molten metal-carbon alloy yields solid ribbons comprising the metal supersaturated with the first carbon material.
15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising controlling a velocity of the spinning wheel, controlling a volumetric flow rate of the molten metal-carbon alloy, or both to achieve a selected thickness of the solid ribbons.
16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising controlling a velocity of the spinning wheel and a volumetric flow rate of the molten metal-carbon alloy at the same time to achieve the selected thickness of the solid ribbons.
17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein controlling the volumetric flow rate of the molten metal-carbon alloy comprises controlling an ejection pressure on the molten metal-carbon alloy, selecting an orifice diameter from which the molten metal-carbon alloy is ejected, or both.
18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein a thickness of the solid ribbons is between about 0.5 μm and about 1000 μm.
19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein heating the solid metal-carbon alloy comprises precipitating the second carbon material from the first mixture.
20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein heating the solid metal-carbon alloy comprises heating to a maximum temperature less than the melting point of the metal.
21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein heating the solid metal-carbon alloy comprises heating for a length of time exceeding one second.
22 . The method of claim 20 , wherein heating the solid metal-carbon alloy comprises pulling a length of the metal-carbon alloy through a heated zone, thereby inducing directional precipitation.
23 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first carbon material comprises at least 90 at % carbon.
24 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second carbon material differs from the first carbon material with respect to microstructure, mechanical property, porosity, physical dimension, or any combination thereof.
25 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal comprises one or more of nickel, manganese, cobalt, calcium, iron, yttrium, gold, and copper.
26 . The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting the first mixture with the quantity of the hydrogen halide comprises contacting the first mixture with an aqueous solution comprising the hydrogen halide.
27 . The method of the claim 26 , wherein the aqueous solution comprising the hydrogen halide comprises hydrochloric acid.
28 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the second mixture comprises the metal halide dissolved in the aqueous solution.
29 . The method of claim 28 , further comprising filtering the aqueous solution to separate the second carbon material from the second mixture.
30 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the quantity of the hydrogen halide is hydrogen halide gas.
31 . The method of claim 30 , wherein contacting the first mixture with the quantity of the hydrogen halide gas occurs at a pressure between about 1 bar and about 5000 bar.
32 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second carbon material and the metal halide are separated by heating the second mixture to a temperature above the sublimation point of the metal halide, thereby evaporating the metal halide.