Porous Substrates, Articles, Systems and Compositions Comprising Nanofibers and Methods of Their Use and Production

Abstract

Porous and/or curved nanofiber bearing substrate materials are provided having enhanced surface area for a variety of applications including as electrical substrates, semipermeable membranes and barriers, structural lattices for tissue culturing and for composite materials, production of long unbranched nanofibers, and the like. A method of producing nanofibers is disclosed including providing a plurality of microparticles or nanoparticles such as carbon black particles having a catalyst material deposited thereon, and synthesizing a plurality of nanofibers from the catalyst material on the microparticles or nanoparticles. Compositions including carbon black particles having nanowires deposited thereon are further disclosed.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 511,886 filed Aug. 29, 2006, which is a continuation in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 331,445 filed Jan. 11, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,553,371 which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 941,746, filed Sep. 15, 2004, entitled “POROUS SUBSTRATES, ARTICLES, SYSTEMS AND COMPOSITIONS COMPRISING NANOFIBERS AND METHODS OF THEIR USE AND PRODUCTION” by Dubrow and Niu, which claims priority to and benefit of provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 541,463, filed Feb. 2, 2004, the full disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The invention relates primarily to the field of nanotechnology. More specifically, the invention pertains to nanofibers, including methods of synthesizing or stabilizing nanofibers, articles comprising nanofibers, and use of nano...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007]The present invention is directed, in one aspect, to a novel presentation of nanomaterials that enables a broader use and application of those materials while imparting ease of handling, fabrication, and integration that is lacking in previously reported nanomaterials. In particular, one aspect of the present invention provides a porous substrate upon which is attached a plurality of nanofibers. The nanofibers may be attached to any portion or over the entire overall surface of the substrate or may be localized primarily or substantially upon the interior wall surfaces of the apertures that define the pores that are disposed through the porous substrate.

Problems solved by technology

In particular, in merely depositing fibers on membranes, it is difficult to get uniform or complete, e.g., penetrating, coverage of the fibers over the total surface area of the membrane, whereas in situ growth methods give far better coverage of interior surfaces, and thus provide much greater surface area for the membrane or barrier.

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