Production of Ceramic Metal Oxide Membranes by Means of Reactive Electrospinning

• Main Authors: Oei Fransisca, Jimenez Cynthia V, Medinilla Victoria R, Vargas Susana, Forward Keith M
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 23.02.2017
• Subjects: AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CARBONFILAMENTS; ARTIFICIAL STONE; BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; CAPACITORS; CAPACITORS, RECTIFIERS, DETECTORS, SWITCHING DEVICES ORLIGHT-SENSITIVE DEVICES, OF THE ELECTROLYTIC TYPE; CAPTURE, STORAGE, SEQUESTRATION OR DISPOSAL OF GREENHOUSEGASES [GHG]; CEMENTS; CERAMICS; CHEMICAL FEATURES IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FILAMENTS,THREADS, FIBRES, BRISTLES OR RIBBONS; CHEMISTRY; CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION ORPROCESSING OF GOODS; COMPOSITIONS THEREOF, e.g. MORTARS, CONCRETE OR LIKE BUILDINGMATERIALS; CONCRETE; ELECTRICITY; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASS B29C, RELATING TO PARTICULARARTICLES; LIME, MAGNESIA; MECHANICAL METHODS OR APPARATUS IN THE MANUFACTURE OFARTIFICIAL FILAMENTS, THREADS, FIBRES, BRISTLES ORRIBBONS; METALLURGY; NATURAL OR ARTIFICIAL THREADS OR FIBRES; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGYGENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION; REFRACTORIES; SEPARATION; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SLAG; SPINNING; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE; TEXTILES; TRANSPORTING; TREATMENT OF NATURAL STONE; WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE, IN GENERAL

Traditionally, the manufacturing of ceramic metal oxide membranes is often expensive and extremely labor intensive due to the often necessary post-processing steps. The present invention discloses to a novel single-step process, to produce ceramic metal oxide membranes. More specifically, this invention relates to reactive electrospinning where a sol-gel solution containing alkoxides is electrically charged and formed a Taylor cone at the tip of a needle in an environment controlled chamber, and the Taylor cone rejects a continuous stream of alkoxide nanofibers which polymerized to form a ceramic metal oxide membrane (with and without a polymer substrate present). The manufactured membranes may be used for various applications, including dye sensitized solar cells and for carbon dioxide capturing.