US 12,104,283 B2
Networked polymeric nanofibers, process for producing same, gas adsorbent, and gas separation material
Izumi Ichinose, Ibaraki (JP); Xinsheng Peng, Ibaraki (JP); Sadaki Samitsu, Ibaraki (JP); and Rui Zhang, Ibaraki (JP)
Assigned to NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE, Ibaraki (JP)
Filed by NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE, Ibaraki (JP)
Filed on Dec. 3, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/701,553.
Application 16/701,553 is a division of application No. 13/635,735, abandoned, previously published as PCT/JP2011/053035, filed on Feb. 14, 2011.
Claims priority of application No. 2010-062137 (JP), filed on Mar. 18, 2010.
Prior Publication US 2020/0102670 A1, Apr. 2, 2020
Int. Cl. D01D 5/00 (2006.01); B01D 53/02 (2006.01); B01J 20/26 (2006.01); B01J 20/28 (2006.01); B01J 20/30 (2006.01); B29C 35/16 (2006.01); B29C 67/20 (2006.01); B82Y 30/00 (2011.01); B82Y 40/00 (2011.01); C08J 9/26 (2006.01); D01F 6/22 (2006.01)
CPC D01D 5/00 (2013.01) [B01D 53/02 (2013.01); B01J 20/262 (2013.01); B01J 20/28007 (2013.01); B01J 20/28023 (2013.01); B01J 20/28057 (2013.01); B01J 20/3085 (2013.01); B29C 35/16 (2013.01); B29C 67/202 (2013.01); B82Y 30/00 (2013.01); C08J 9/26 (2013.01); D01F 6/22 (2013.01); B01D 2253/202 (2013.01); B01D 2257/504 (2013.01); B01D 2257/7025 (2013.01); B82Y 40/00 (2013.01); C08J 2201/0482 (2013.01); Y02C 20/20 (2013.01); Y02C 20/40 (2020.08); Y02P 70/62 (2015.11); Y10T 428/2975 (2015.01)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A process for producing a polymeric nanofiber network consisting of amorphous polymeric nanofibers branched at multiple sites, continuously joined to one another, and having a diameter of from 1 nanometer to 100 nanometers, the process comprising the steps of:
(a) dissolving an amorphous polymer in a solvent consisting of a good solvent of the amorphous polymer to obtain a polymer solution, wherein the good solvent is capable of providing a homogeneous solution even under cooling and does not cause phase separation until the good solvent solidifies, and wherein the good solvent is one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of carbon tetrachloride, chlorobenzene, chloroform, cyclohexanone, o-dichlorobenzene, dimethylformamide, 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, nitrobenzene, 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane, and p-xylene;
(b) rapidly freezing the amorphous polymer solution to form a nanoscale phase-separation structure of the polymer and solidified good solvent molecules, wherein the good solvent of the nanoscale phase-separation structure is solidified at nanoscale by the rapid freezing, and wherein the good solvent does not exist in a liquid state around the amorphous polymeric nanofibers while the amorphous polymeric nanofibers are being formed; and
(c) removing the good solvent from the frozen amorphous polymer solution to achieve the polymeric nanofiber network, wherein the step of removing the good solvent includes a step of displacing the good solvent with a poor solvent of the amorphous polymer by contacting the frozen amorphous polymer solution with the poor solvent, which has been cooled in advance.