Granted Patent B2

US 12,652,947 · App. 17/756,895 · Granted Jun 9, 2026

Inventor: Huaping Li (Los Angeles, CA)

Assignee: Atom H2O, LLC

H10K85/221B01J19/0013B82Y40/00C01B32/159C01B32/162B01J2219/00121C01B2202/02H10K50/81

Abstract

Claims (30)

1 . A method of producing single-walled carbon nanotubes, the method comprising:

supplying, to a mixing zone, a carrier carbon monoxide and a catalyst precursor through a first inlet at a temperature below the reaction temperature of the catalyst precursor;

supplying, to a mixing zone, a heated carbon monoxide through a second inlet such that the heated carbon monoxide mixes with the carrier carbon monoxide and the catalyst to form an aerosol;

reacting the aerosol in a reaction chamber to form a composite aerosol comprising single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide;

exposing a substrate to the composite aerosol to deposit a SWCNT film on a surface of the substrate, wherein the substrate is stored on a roll-to-roll system, and wherein the substrate comprises a flexible membrane filter;

feeding an unused flexible membrane substrate into the path of the composite aerosol comprising SWCNTs on a first roller as a SWCNT film; and

storing the flexible membrane substrate which has been deposited with the SWCNT film on a second roller.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second inlet comprises a showerhead.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the heated carbon monoxide is at a temperature of 1000° C.-1100° C.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pressure within the reaction chamber is greater than or equal to 10 atm.

5 . The method of claim 1 , transferring the carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide into a base bath, wherein the base bath absorbs the carbon dioxide.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the base bath comprises sodium hydroxide.

7 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising reusing the transferred carbon monoxide through the first inlet and/or the second inlet.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a membrane filter.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the membrane filter comprises polyethylene terephthalate.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein exposing the substrate to the composite aerosol deposits the SWCNT film onto the filter membrane while passing the carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide through the filter membrane.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst precursor comprises penta(carbonyl)iron.

12 . An apparatus for producing single-walled carbon nanotubes comprising:

a reaction chamber;

a mixing zone connected to the reaction chamber;

a first inlet configured to feed a carrier carbon monoxide gas and a catalyst precursor to the mixing zone;

a second inlet configured to couple to a carbon monoxide gas source, and receive carbon monoxide gas from the carbon monoxide gas source;

a piping connected to the second inlet, wherein the piping feeds the carbon monoxide gas into the mixing zone;

a heat source in thermal connection with the piping and configured to heat the carbon monoxide gas fed through the piping and into the mixing zone, wherein the carrier carbon monoxide gas and the catalyst precursor is configured to be mixed with the heated carbon monoxide gas and reacts to form an aerosol containing single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs);

a deposition chamber connected to the reaction chamber through a transfer piping; and

a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate in position to expose a surface of the substrate to the aerosol depositing a SWCNT film on the surface of the substrate, wherein the substrate comprises a flexible membrane filter, and wherein the substrate holder comprises:

a first roller configured to hold a first roll of an unused flexible substrate wherein the first roll is configured to feed the unused flexible substrate in the path of the aerosol comprising SWCNTs; and

a second roll configured to store the flexible membrane substrate which has been deposited with the SWCNT film.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the membrane filter comprises polyethylene terephthalate.

14 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the aerosol further contains carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, and wherein the flexible membrane filter is configured to filter the SWCNTs out of the aerosol while passing the carbon monoxide and the carbon dioxide.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (400)