Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

Other

Pentair Filtration, Inc.

Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies

Marc A Anderson

Qunyin Xu

Lixin Chu

Kevin C Leonard

Mark S Yahnke

Golan Shlomo

Elizabeth T Webster

Lubomir Spanhel

Reid A Peterson

M Isabel Tejedor

Ole Christensen

Guangyao Sheng

Hirofumi Kikkawa

Michael J Kurth

Michael D Steinhardt

Gary L Hatch

Charles M Mohr

Charles G Hill, Jr

Qunyin Ku

Brian L Bischoff

Maria Isabel Tejedor-Anderson

Lawrence W Miller

Simonetta Tunesi

Kuo-Chuan Liu

Walter A Zeltner

The present disclosure is directed to a metal-containing apparatus including a substrate member constructed of a metal that is highly resistant to pitting corrosion and wear in aggressive media. An exemplary metal-containing apparatus is a plate heat exchanger. The metal includes an oxidation layer on the surface thereof and a thin metal oxide nanoporous film on top of the oxidation layer. The nanoporous film is highly compliant and is comprised of oxygen and aluminum, titanium, silicon, zirconium and combinations thereof.

Metal substrates including metal oxide nanoporous thin films and methods of making the same

Disclosed is an electrolyzer including an electrode including a nanoporous oxide-coated conducting material. Also disclosed is a method of producing a gas through electrolysis by contacting an aqueous solution with an electrode connected to an electrical power source, wherein the electrode includes a nanoporous oxide-coated conducting material.

Nanoporous materials for reducing the overpotential of creating hydrogen by water electrolysis

A nanoporous insulating oxide deionization device, method of manufacture and method of use thereof for deionizing a water supply (such as a hard water supply), for desalinating a salt water supply, and for treating a bacteria-containing water supply. The device contains two composite electrodes each constructed from a conductive backing electrode and a composite oxide layer being an insulating oxide or a non-insulating oxide and an intermediate porous layer. The composite layer being substantially free of mixed oxidation states and nanoporous and having a median pore diameter of 0.5-500 nanometers and average surface area of 300-600 m/g. The composite layer made from a stable sol-gel suspension containing particles of the insulating oxide, the median primary particle diameter being 1-50 nanometers. The difference in zeta potential, at a pH in the range of 6-9, being sufficient to suitably remove alkaline and alkaline earth cations (such as Caand Na), various organic and other inorganic cations and organic and inorganic anions from water, preferably household hard water. One composite layer being constructed from a mixture of AlO, MgAlOand/or Mg-doped AlOparticles, and the other composite layer being constructed from SiOor TiO.

Nanoporous insulating oxide deionization device having asymmetric electrodes and method of use thereof

A nanoporous insulating oxide composite electrode and ultracapacitor device, method of manufacture and method of use thereof. The composite electrode being constructed from a conductive backing electrode and an composite layer. Preferably, the ultracapacitor device is configured in a stacked, coiled or button cell configurations and includes composite electrodes. The composite layer being substantially free of mixed oxidation states and nanoporous and having a median pore diameter of 0.5-500 nanometers and average surface area of 300-600 m/g. The composite layer made from a stable sol-gel suspension containing particles of the insulating oxide, the median primary particle diameter being 1-50 nanometers. Preferably, the insulating oxide is AlO, MgAlO, SiOor TiO. Preferably, the backing electrode is carbon paper sputter-coated with a film of Au.

Nanoporous insulating oxide electrolyte membrane ultracapacitor, button cell, stacked cell and coiled cell and methods of manufacture and use thereof

A cartridge for a water treatment system, effective to assist in the removal of contaminants by photocatalytic oxidation and by adsorption, includes a plurality of stacked disks, preferably made of a UV light transmissive material, which disks define circuitous flow paths for water being treated. In a preferred embodiment, the disk surfaces contacted by the water are provided with a coating of a catalyst, such as TiO, activated by a UV light source positioned in the center of the cartridge.

Photocatalytic water treatment apparatus

A waveguide comprising a transparent substrate and a metal oxide coating having the disclosed properties on the substrate can propagate light in an attenuated total reflection mode.

Waveguide

An inexpensive porous metal oxide material having high surface area, good conductivity and high specific capacitance is advantageously used in an electrochemical capacitor. The materials are formed in a sol-gel process which affords control over the properties of the resultant metal oxide materials.

Electrochemical capacitor

A method for producing high surface area, thermally stable, microporous porous ceramic materials involves replacing a portion of the silicon in a sol or gel comprising silica (silicon dioxide) with cations of another metal. The metal-substituted silica sols are dried and fired to yield porous ceramic materials. Similarly, metal-substituted gels are fired to yield porous ceramic materials. When compared with unsubstituted silica materials, the materials thus produced offer advantageous benefits including improved stability in a basic environment, enhanced thermal stability, and advantageous surface properties such as intrinsic negative charge.

Substituted silica gel

Substituted silica sol

Porous ceramic material

Methods have been developed to make porous ceramic membranes having macroscopic channels therethrough. The novel membranes are formed by temporarily supporting the sol-gel membrane precursor on an organic support which is ultimately removed from the interior of the membrane, preferably by pyrolysis or by chemical destruction. The organic support may also include an inorganic metal portion that remains on destruction of the organic portion, providing structural support and/or chemical reactivity to the membrane. The channels formed when the organic support is destroyed provide the ability to withdraw small catalytic products or size-separated molecules from the metal oxide membrane. In addition, the channel-containing membranes retain all of the advantages of existing porous ceramic membranes.

Ceramic membranes having macroscopic channels

Flaw-free porous ceramic membranes fabricated from metal sols and coated onto a porous support are advantageously used in gas phase fractionation methods. Mean pore diameters of less than 40 .ANG., preferably 5-20 .ANG. and most preferably about 15 .ANG., are permeable at lower pressures than existing membranes. Condensation of gases in small pores and non-Knudsen membrane transport mechanisms are employed to facilitate and increase membrane permeability and permselectivity.

Gas phase fractionation method using porous ceramic membrane

Method for forming porous ceramic materials

A thin film battery is disclosed based on the use of ceramic membrane technology. The battery includes a pair of conductive collectors on which the materials for the anode and the cathode may be spin coated. The separator is formed of a porous metal oxide ceramic membrane impregnated with electrolyte so that electrical separation is maintained while ion mobility is also maintained. The entire battery can be made less than 10 microns thick while generating a potential in the 1 volt range.

Growing community of inventors

Madison, WI, United States of America

Marc A Anderson