US 12415177 B1Patent grantUnited States

Porous Copper-Oxide Nanohybrid Production

Official patent title

Method for synthesis of a g-C3N4@CuO/MgAI2O4 nanohybrid

Arabic title: طريقة لتخليق هجين نانوي من g-C.SUB.3.N.SUB.4.@CuO/MgAI.SUB.2.O.SUB.4

Invention

Problem

Carbon-based and metal-oxide composite synthesis can face aggregation, inaccessible surface area, interfacial incompatibility, complex processing, poor scalability, or inconsistent phase and pore structure.

Why it matters

A defined route to a carbon-nitride/copper-oxide/spinel hybrid could enable systematic energy or photocatalysis research, but functional performance, durability, batch consistency, and scale-up require independent verification.

Approach

The method mixes magnesium, aluminum, and copper salts with menthol in water, forms and calcines a solid, then mixes the product with urea and reheats it to produce g-C3N4@CuO/MgAl2O4.

Who may benefit

Potential beneficiaries include advanced-materials laboratories, supercapacitor and photocatalyst researchers, oxide-powder suppliers, nanomaterial characterization groups, and process engineers developing staged thermal syntheses.

Potential value

The disclosure links specific precursor classes, menthol loading, two heat-treatment steps, component weight ranges, nanosheet-supported oxide particles, pore parameters, and diffraction spacings in one preparation method.

Background

Graphitic carbon nitride is studied for visible-light activity, structural tunability, and electrochemical applications, while metal oxides can add complementary functions. Conventional carbon materials may aggregate, provide limited electrochemical activity, or require complex processing. Composite performance can also be constrained by poor interfacial compatibility, phase dispersion, and long-term stability. The patent proposes a staged aqueous and thermal route to place copper-oxide and magnesium-aluminate nanoparticles on carbon-nitride nanosheets, with defined composition, morphology, porosity, and diffraction characteristics for subsequent application-specific evaluation.

Technology overview

Magnesium, aluminum, and copper salts plus menthol are mixed in water and heated to a solid. The solid is calcined at 600–800 °C for 2–4 hours, then the metal product is mixed with urea and heated at 550–650 °C for 20–60 minutes. The resulting hybrid contains 2–20 wt.% g-C3N4, 1–10 wt.% CuO, and 75–95 wt.% MgAl2O4. Claims further define nanosheet dimensions, 2–10 nm oxide particles, BET and pore ranges, crystal phases, and interplanar spacings.

Potential applications

Potential supercapacitor-material research after electrochemical testing.
Potential visible-light photocatalyst development.
Potential platform for porous hybrid-material studies.
Potential process development for multi-phase nanohybrid powders.

Evidence-supported advantages

Defines two bounded thermal-treatment stages.
Specifies weight ranges for all three principal components.
Disperses oxide nanoparticles on carbon-nitride nanosheets.
Provides pore, phase, and interplanar-spacing criteria.

Development stage

Patent publication describing nanohybrid synthesis and material characterization; independent validation and commercialization were not established.

Commercial opportunity

The route may interest research-material, catalyst, or electrode-powder suppliers. Advancement requires independent phase and morphology confirmation, batch reproducibility, surface and pore measurements, application-specific performance, cycling or reuse durability, precursor and energy costs, safe handling, waste control, scale-up mixing and heat transfer, yield, product integration, and comparative economics.

Patent classifications

WIPO IPC

B01J27/24Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
B01J23/78Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus

CPC

B01J35/70Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
B01J35/613Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
B01J37/084Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
B01J37/088Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
B01J23/78Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
B01J27/24Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
B01J35/647Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
B01J37/04Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
B01J35/633Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus

Inventors

First inventorBabiker Yagoub Elhadi Abdulkhair
InventorMohamed Khairy Abdel Fattah Omran

Keywords

g-C3N4
CuO
MgAl2O4
nanohybrid
menthol
urea
calcination
porous material

Patent document and drawings

The patent publication is mapped to this record. Patent drawings remain within that publication; no separately cleared public media package has been supplied.