Patent ID: 8317978

Claim:
A process for forming and nitriding carbon nanopaper comprising: (a) adding carbon nanotube particles in an aqueous solution of 1 weight percent surfactant; (b) subjecting the aqueous solution to an ultrasonic horn sonicator until a uniform dispersion of the carbon nanotube particles is obtained within the aqueous solution; (c) vacuum filtering the aqueous solution through a micron sized membrane to obtain a coating of deposited carbon nanotube particles from about 0.5 to about 1 mm on the membrane; (d) annealing the carbon nanotube coated membrane under flowing ammonia, at about 800 to about 1000 degrees C., for about 1 hour; (e) rinsing the annealed carbon nanotube coated membrane with a 1 to 5 weight solution of polystyrene polymer in an organic solvent; (f) drying the rinsed annealed carbon nanotube coated membrane under ambient conditions until fully dried; (g) peeling off the filtration membrane as a carbon nanopaper; (h) placing the carbon nanopaper in a temperature controlled, gas flow through furnace, heated to about 150 to about 200 degrees C.; (i) subjecting a nitrogen-hydrogen gas mixture to an about 50 to about 70 watts of radio frequency energy to generate an excited nitrogen-hydrogen gas; (j) passing the excited gas over the heated carbon nanopaper, located in the gas flow through furnace, at a rate of about 25 to about 50 standard cubic centimeters per minute, at a pressure of about 1 to about 1.4 Torr, for a period of about 1 hour; (k) removing from the gas flow through furnace a chemically functionalized nitriding carbon nanopaper.