The invention relates, in part, to a method of producing silica vesicles including under controlled conditions to thereby heavily influence the morphology and characteristics of the vesicles. The vesicles are shown to be effective as delivery agents for chemical and biological agents. They are also shown to be useful in methods of treatment and as components of an immunogenic composition.

A positive-electrode active material precursor for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery, contains a nickel-cobalt-manganese carbonate composite represented by a general formula of Ni.sub.xCo.sub.yMn.sub.zM.sub.tCO.sub.3 where x+y+z+t=1, 0.05≤x≤0.3, 0.1≤y≤0.4, 0.55≤z≤0.8, and 0≤t≤0.1 are satisfied; and M represents one or more additive elements selected from among Mg, Ca, Al, Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Nb, Mo, and W. The positive-electrode active material precursor includes secondary particles having an average particle diameter greater than or equal to 4 μm and less than or equal to 9 μm. The secondary particle includes a sparse central portion and a dense outer shell portion outside of the central portion, formed of primary particles.

A hierarchical porous honeycombed nickel oxide microsphere and a preparation method thereof are disclosed. The method includes mixing nickel sulfate hexahydrate, urea, water and glycerol, to obtain a mixed solution; subjecting the mixed solution to a hydrothermal reaction, to obtain a precursor; and calcining the precursor, to obtain the hierarchical porous honeycombed nickel oxide microspheres.

There is provided a paint formulation comprising a composite pigment, said composite pigment being selected from the group consisting of metal oxide/silica, metal oxide/silicate, metal oxide/alumina, metal oxide/metal oxide and metal oxide/zirconia, wherein the size and amount of said composite pigment are selected to increase the opacity of said paint formulation.

The present invention relates to a pigment mixture based on at least two components A and B, where component A is a mixture of flake-form and spherical substrates which is covered with one or more inorganic layers and/or organic layers, and component B comprises crystalline or amorphous particles selected from the group of the metal oxides, metal hydroxides, metal oxy-halides, Prussian Blue or mixtures thereof,

and to the use thereof in paints, coatings, printing inks, security printing inks, plastics, ceramic materials, glasses, in cosmetic formulations, as tracer, as filler and for the preparation of pigment preparations and dry preparations.

A method of preparing hollow molybdate composite microspheres includes steps of: (1) dissolving 1-4 mmol of MCl.sub.2 in 20 ml of water to obtain a solution A and dissolving 1-4 mmol. of molybdic acid in 20 ml of water to obtain a solution B, followed by mixing the solution A and the solution B, in which M is Co, Ni, or Cu; (2) dissolving 10-40 mmol of urea in 40 ml of water, adding the mixed solution of step (1) and stirring uniformly; (3) placing the mixed solution of step (2) into a reaction vessel and reacting at 120-160° C. for 6-12 hours; (4) suction filtrating and water washing, followed by drying in a vacuum oven at 40-60° C.; (5) calcination at 350-500° C. for 2-4 hours in a Muffle furnace.

The hollow particles according to the present invention has a balloon structure which includes a cavity inside a shell, and include convex portions with a size of 3 to 100 nm on the surface. The particles have a true specific gravity of 0.3 to 3.0 g/cm.sup.3, a specific surface area (m.sup.2/cm.sup.3) per unit volume calculated by a BET method of not less than 0.5 and less than 60, and an average particle diameter (d.sub.1) of 1 to 20 μm. Cosmetics containing such hollow particles have a soft texture property similar to plastic beads.

This disclosure describes a process for preparing silica-coated calcium carbonate particles, involving the steps of preparing an aqueous carbonate slurry containing calcium carbonate particles, adding at least one silicate composition to the aqueous carbonate slurry to obtain a carbonate-silicate slurry, lowering a pH of the carbonate-silicate slurry by adding at least one acidic compound to obtain a pH-adjusted slurry containing the silica-coated calcium carbonate particles, and isolating the silica-coated calcium carbonate particles—in which at the adding of the acidic compound is controlled such that a final pH of the pH-adjusted slurry ranges from about 7 to about 10, and the silica-coated calcium carbonate particles include a porous coating having an average pore diameter ranging from 2 nm to 50 nm. This disclosure also describes articles and compositions containing the silica-coated calcium carbonate particles, as well as hollow silica spheres formed from the silica-coated calcium carbonate particles.

A material synthesis method may comprise: adding at least one liquid precursor solution to an atomizer device; generating by the atomizer device an aerosol comprising liquid droplets; transporting the aerosol to a reactive zone for evaporating one or more solvents from the aerosol; and collecting particles synthesized from at least evaporating the aerosol.

The present disclosure provides a method for preparing a vesicle, a hollow nanostructure, and a method for preparing the same. The preparation method of the vesicle includes: mixing and evenly stirring an aqueous solution of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide and an aqueous solution of tetraphenylethylene-bisphenol A; and allowing a stirred aqueous solution including cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide and tetraphenylethylene-bisphenol A to stand for a first preset period to obtain an aggregate vesicle of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide and tetraphenylethylene-bisphenol A.