Apparatuses and methods for storing and/or filtering a substance
View Patent ↗Apparatuses, systems, and methods for loading and/or unloading a substance into or from a sorption media. A substance is presented at an edge of the sorption media, which comprises parallel layers of a sorption material. To load (i.e., via absorption and/or adsorption) the substance into the sorption media, heat is transferred away from the sorption media, a loading voltage is applied to the sorption media, and/or a pressure is increased relative to the sorption media. To unload the substance from the sorption media, heat is transferred into the sorption media, a voltage of an opposite polarity from the loading voltage is applied to the sorption media, and/or a pressure is decreased relative to the sorption media. In some embodiments, the sorption media includes surface structures that may load molecules of the substance.
1. A method of loading a substance in a sorption media, the method comprising:
providing a substance at an area adjacent to a first edge of a sorption media, wherein the sorption media comprises at least two parallel layers of a sorption material and the first edge of the sorption media provides access to a zone between the at least two parallel layers;
loading at least a portion of the substance in the sorption media, wherein:
at least some molecules of the substance are adsorbed onto a surface of a layer of the at least two parallel layers, and
at least some molecules of the substance are absorbed into the zone between the at least two parallel layers; and
unloading at least a portion of the substance that was loaded in the sorption media at a second edge of the sorption media, wherein the second edge of the sorption media includes a catalyst that catalyzes a chemical reaction between molecules of the substance of a first compound and molecules of a second compound.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the substance is absorbed by surface structures located on a surface of a layer of the at least two parallel layers of sorption material.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing heat from the sorption media, wherein removing heat from the sorption media facilitates and/or causes the loading of at least a portion of the substance.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying a voltage across at least one layer of the at least two parallel layers of sorption material, wherein applying the voltage facilitates and/or causes the loading of at least a portion of the substance.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising increasing a pressure experienced by the sorption media, wherein increasing the pressure experienced by the sorption media facilitates and/or causes the loading of at least a portion of the substance.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein loading at least a portion of the substance in the sorption media is facilitated and/or caused by at least two of:
removing heat from the sorption media;
applying a voltage across at least one layer of the at least two parallel layers; and
increasing a pressure experienced by the sorption media.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substance comprises molecules of at least two compounds.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein loading the substance in the sorption media comprises loading only molecules of one compound in the sorption media.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sorption material is one of graphene, graphite, or boron nitride.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying a voltage gradient across the absorbing media to facilitate and/or cause the loading of at least a portion of the substance.
11. A method for unloading a substance from a sorption media, the method comprising:
from a sorption media comprising at least two parallel layers of a sorption material and having an edge that provides access to a zone between the at least two parallel layers, unloading molecules of a substance that have been loaded in the sorption media, wherein:
the molecules of the substance include molecules of a first compound and molecules of a second compound different that the molecules of the first compound;
at least some of the molecules of the first compound are unloaded from an adsorbed state on a surface of a layer of the at least two parallel layers;
at least some of the molecules of the first compound are unloaded from an absorbed state in the zone between the at least two parallel layers;
molecules of the first compound are expelled from the sorption media via the edge of the sorption media; and
molecules of the second compound that have been loaded in the sorption media are not unloaded.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the sorption media further comprises surface structures located on a surface of at least one of the parallel layers of sorption material and wherein at least some of the molecules of the first compound are unloaded from an absorbed state in the surface structures.
13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising adding heat to the sorption media, wherein adding heat to the sorption media facilitates and/or causes the unloading of at least some of the molecules of the first compound that have been loaded in the sorption media.
14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising adding heat to the sorption media, wherein heat transfers through the at least one of the parallel layers and into the surface structures, and wherein adding heat to the sorption media facilitates and/or causes the unloading of at least some of the molecules of the first compound that have been loaded in the sorption media including the molecules of the first compound that are unloaded from an absorbed state in the surface structures.
15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising applying a voltage across at least one layer of the at least two parallel layers of sorption material, wherein applying the voltage facilitates and/or causes the unloading of at least some of the molecules of the first compound that have been loaded in the sorption media.
16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising decreasing a pressure experienced by the sorption media, wherein decreasing the pressure experienced by the sorption media facilitates or causes the unloading of at least some of the molecules of the first compound that have been loaded in the sorption media.
17. The method of claim 11 , wherein unloading molecules of the first compound that have been loaded in the sorption media is facilitated or caused by at least two of:
adding heat to the sorption media;
applying a voltage across at least one layer of the at least two parallel layers; and
decreasing a pressure experienced by the sorption media.
18. The method of claim 11 , where in the sorption material is one of graphene, graphite, or boron nitride.
19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the voltage across at least one layer of the at least two parallel layers of sorption material has a polarity opposite a polarity of a voltage that was applied to load the molecules of the substance in the sorption media.
20. A method of loading a substance in a sorption media the method comprising:
providing a substance at an area adjacent to an edge of a sorption media, wherein:
the sorption media comprises at least two parallel layers of a sorption material and an edge of the sorption media provides access to a zone between the at least two parallel layers, and
the substance comprises molecules of at least two compounds; and
loading at least a portion of the substance in the sorption media, wherein:
only molecules of one of the at least two compounds is loaded in the sorption media,
at least some molecules of the one of the at least two compounds are adsorbed onto a surface of a layer of the at least two parallel layers, and
at least some molecules of the one of the at least two compounds are absorbed into the zone between the at least two parallel layers.