Ultra-Nanofibers for Air and Water Filtration

Background:

Using cellulose nanofibers for water filtration can be advantageous due to the functionality of their surfaces; they can be adjusted to guide water flow inside water channels or to selectively alter the adsorptive or repulsive properties for particulate separation. They can be prepared from natural plants after chemical and mechanical treatments. These fibers have smaller diameters and can be modified at their surface. The current method of production prepares nanofibers with diameters from about 10 to 100 nm, with a 20% yield. However, the steps involved require corrosive reagents. An electrospinning method exists as well, but the current method yields fibers with diameters of 300 to 1,000 nm; an additional post-treatment step is necessary as well, which involves toxic reagents.

Technology Overview:

This technology is a membrane including a coating layer and a substrate. The coating layer has a non-woven structure of polysaccharide nanofibers. These nanofibers have diameters between 5 and 50 nm. The electrospun substrate has a non-woven structure format as well, where the coating layer is applied. The electrospun substrate has nanofibers with a greater diameter than that of the cellulose nanofibers. The electrospun substrate is disposed on a non-woven support, which has microfibers with a greater diameter than that of the electrospun substrate.

Advantages:

Provides A High flux and High efficiency nanofiber membrane - Hydrophilic surfaces, which can be used To create liquid nano-channels - Facilitated chemical modification - Biocompatibility of nanofibers, Permits Biomedical applications

Applications:

- Cellulose nanofiber membranes: nanofiber filtration - Ultrafiltration - Nanofiltration - Reverse osmosis - Biomedical applications  -Electrospun membrane: microfiltration

Intellectual Property Summary:

Patented

Stage of Development:

[9511329](https://patents.google.com/patent/US9511329)

Licensing Status:

Available for licensing.

Licensing Potential:

Licensing,Commercial partner,Development partner

Additional Information: