Patent EP-3476802-A1 (EP)
Inventor: LA TORRE ALESSANDRO
IPC: C01B32/18
Filed: 2018-05-17
Abstract: Nanomaterials are often associated with unsustainable or harmful elements, such as rare or toxic metals in quantum dots, or suffer from the lack of reproducibility ( e . g . carbon nanotubes), which hinders significantly their exploitation. Furthermore, some of the 'hottest' carbon nanomaterials, such as "graphene", lack essential functional characteristics, such as optical and suffer from a lack of scalability, which renders their applications for devices limited at this current time. In this patent application, I propose to progress the fabrication of carbon nanomaterials to solve various outstanding challenges, through innovative nanoprocessing, leading to the development of optically active carbon nanostructures. The main emphasis will be placed on synthesis and assembly, with a very high degree of precision, achieved through innovative chemical processing ( Figure 1 ), leading to new ways to control the size, shape, structure, morphology and connectivity of nanostructured materials and devices. Herein, the thermal evolution of the organic capping layer stabilising metal nanoparticles is described. The functional properties of the thermal evolved organic layer are dictated by the carbonization process conditions. The transformation of the organic layers was monitored and investigated through complementary electron microscopy and spectroscopy techniques ( Figure 2  e  3 ). The new carbon materials present remarkable photo-luminescence property assessed by energy loss spectroscopy and complementary techniques ( Figure 4 ); Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) ( Figure 3a ) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) ( Figure 3b  and inset) indicate that the structures formed in this process consist of 98.8 wt% of carbon and 1.2 wt% of sulfur. Further analysis confirmed the presence of Calcium, Sodium ( Figure 4a  and  5 ) and Potassium. Developing an effective strategy to build functional carbon materials with well-organized architectures and unprecedented morphologies would give a momentum to the commercialisation of such materials, ranging from energy storage matrices such as batteries and supercapacitors, optics, computing, to also a wide range of applications in healthcare. 
The hybrid structure formed bear resembles of the mysterious interstellar carbon dust known as  "Chaiote".  Carbon is the most abundant element on earth widely available. The CNC technology will be fully sustainable. It will bring down the cost of device production, as the fabrication of CNC's ( Figure 2  e  6 ) and Nanoparticles films ( Figure 2a ) are not expensive and cheaper than another semiconductors technology used for instance in solar cell. According to theoretical modeling the CNC tensile strength is bigger than the well-known carbon forms present in today market. CNC can be fabricated using different organic layers rendering doped CNC with N, P, O, S, F. When xylene is used as organic layer the manganese particles presents magnetic propriety ( Figure 7 ). The CNC are produced on surfaces of BN, carbon fibres, Si 3 N 4  ( Figure 6 ), glass and quartz. The CNC grown on and in carbon nanofibres forms a  nanoreactor  ( Figure 8 ,  9 ,  10  e  11 ) suitable for purification and desalination of sea water. It also suitable for chemical of reactions ranging from hydrogenation to reduction and decomposition of NO, NO 2  and CO 2  to CO oxidation and electrochemical reactions. Using a commercial solution of nanopowder coated with Polyvinylpyrrolidone the CNC can also be grown as free standing foams as shown in ( Figure 12 ). 
Carbon can also be shaped into nanowires as shown in  Figure 13  remarkably presenting insulator behaviours.  Finally, It is important to report that free standing Ag, Au, Mn, nanoparticles posses already interesting optical properties. In addition Mn, Fe and Ni possess magnetic properties. The thermal evolution experiments are aimed at extruding the metal content from the nanoparticles and intercalate the ions into a solid carbon matrix shaped as a carbon cup (CNC).