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

[0008]The articles of the invention may be employed as filtration media to filter gas, fluids or the like, or they may be employed as semipermeable barriers, e.g., breathable moisture barriers for outerwear, bandages, or the like. The articles of the invention may also be employed to integrate nanomaterials into electronic devices, in which the nanomaterials impart useful characteristics, e.g., as electrodes and or other active elements in photovoltaic devices and the like, or they may be used to integrate these nanomaterials into physical structures, e.g., composites, or biological structures, e.g., tissue. Synthesis of nanofibers on a porous or curved substrate can facilitate production of large numbers and / or a high density of long, unbranched nanofibers for use in any of a variety of applications.

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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