A method of producing modified buoyancy bodies and particulates involves pre-treating one or more substrate surfaces with acid to activate hydroxyl groups, rinsing the substrate surfaces to remove excess acid, functionalizing the pre-treated substrate surfaces with hydrophilic chemical moieties to provide hydrophilic functionality to the substrate, and attaching chemicals, materials, and/or fillers to the substrate surfaces sequentially to produce bodies and/or particles having modified functional attributes.

It has been found that certain silica/cellulose hybrid compositions can be incorporated into rubber formulations with excellent compatibility between the filler and the rubber being attained. These rubber formulations also offer excellent rubber performance characteristics for utilization in tires and other rubber products. These silica/cellulose compositions are made by (1) dispersing sodium silicate or an alkoxy silane into an aqueous cellulose slurry to make an aqueous cellulose dispersion; (2) maintaining the aqueous cellulose dispersion under agitation for a time which is sufficient to allow the sodium silicate or the alkoxy silane to react with the cellulose; (3) adding an acid to the cellulose dispersion in an amount which is sufficient to reduce the pH of the cellulose dispersion to no more than about 8 to produce the silica/cellulose hybrid; and (4) recovering the silica/cellulose hybrid from the water.

A particle is provided that includes a first material and a second material, arranged to provide a Fano resonance effect, for example in the visible portion of electromagnetic spectrum. The first and second materials may be substantially clear in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The first material may include an inorganic material, such as SiO.sub.2, TiO.sub.2, HfO.sub.2, ZrO.sub.2, diamond, or a combination thereof. The second material may include a polymer. The first material has a first refractive index and the second material has a second refractive index, where the first refractive index and second refractive index have a difference of 0.5 or greater, and 1.0 or less. The first material may form a core and the second material may form a shell surrounding the core. Alternatively, the first and second materials may form a Janus particle, an asymmetric dimer, or an aggregate.

This application belongs to the field of energy storage technology, and specifically discloses a negative active material including SiO.sub.x particles and a modified polymer coating layer covering the SiO.sub.x particles, in which 0<x<2; wherein the negative active material has a peak intensity I.sub.1 at the Raman shift ranging from 280 cm.sup.−1 to 345 cm.sup.−1, a peak intensity 12 at the Raman shift ranging from 450 cm.sup.−1 to 530 cm.sup.−1, and a peak intensity 13 at the Raman shift ranging from 900 cm.sup.−1 to 960 cm.sup.−1, and I.sub.1, I.sub.2 and I.sub.3 satisfy 0.1≤I.sub.1/I.sub.2≤0.6, and 0.2≤I.sub.3/I.sub.2≤1.0. This application also discloses a method for preparing a negative active material and related secondary batteries, battery modules, battery packs and apparatus.

A superhydrophobic film for coating a substrate. The superhydrophobic film comprises a plurality of nanoparticles joined together to form a continuous film, each nanoparticle having a polymer coating, wherein the ratio of average particle size of the nanoparticles to the average thickness of their polymer coatings is from 2.5:1 to 20:1. The superhydrophobic film suitably provides a durable, UV resistant coating which maintains a high water contact angle during use. A method of preparing a superhydrophobic film on a substrate is also disclosed, the method comprising admixing nanoparticles and a polymer to form nanoparticles having a polymer coating and applying the nanoparticles having a polymer coating to the substrate to form the superhydrophobic film. A formulation for coating an article with such a superhydrophobic film is also disclosed.

Disclosed in certain embodiments is a method of preparing structural colorants comprising photonic particles, the method comprising varying the calcination temperature in the process to enable the tuning of pore size to obtain a wide variety of possible colors.

Disclosed in certain embodiments is a liquid coating composition comprising a liquid medium and a structural colorant comprising photonic particles comprising a metal oxide, the photonic particles having silane functional groups on at least a portion of the external surface of the photonic particles.

There is disclosed a method of producing etched non-porous particles. The method includes, in some examples, coating a non-porous particle with a hydrophilic polymer and treating the coated particle with acid or base. Also provided is etched non-porous particles capable of separating a variety of analytes, including biomolecules.

A composite filler comprising thermally processed porous inorganic mixed particles of silica and at least one heteroparticle selected from the group consisting of zirconia, hafnia, or yttria and a polymer occupying the pores of the porous inorganic mixed particles, wherein the porous inorganic mixed particles are thermally processed at a temperature of from 650 to 900° C., as well as a dental restorative comprising a resin and a composite filler, and optionally other fillers, wherein said resin has a refractive index that increases upon curing, and wherein the opacities of the both uncured and cured restorative are less than 45.

The present invention provides a composition having excellent development residue suppressibility. Moreover, also provided are a cured film, a color filter, a light shielding film, an optical element, a solid-state imaging element, a headlight unit, modified silica particles, and a method for producing modified silica particles. The composition according to the embodiment of the present invention contains modified silica particles and a polymerizable compound, in which the modified silica particles each contain a silica particle and a coating layer coating the silica particle, and the coating layer contains a polymer containing a repeating unit represented by General Formula (1).

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