An electrically conductive thin film including a compound represented by Chemical Formula 1 and having a layered crystal structure:
A.sub.xM.sub.yCh.sub.z  Chemical Formula 1 wherein A is V, Nb, or Ta, M is Ni, Co, Fe, Pd, Pt, Ir, Rh, Si, or Ge, Ch is S, Se, or Te, x is a number from 1 to 3, y is a number from 1 to 3, and z is a number from 2 to 14.

To be provided is a metal paste from which an electrode having high electrode activity as a sensor electrode of various gas sensors can be produced. The present invention is a metal paste for forming a gas sensor electrode obtained by dispersing a conductive particle including Pt or a Pt alloy and a ceramic powder including zirconia or stabilized zirconia, or any of zirconia and stabilized zirconia and one or more oxides of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, and Hf in a solvent, the metal paste further including an inorganic oxide particle containing alumina and an insoluble particle that is insoluble in the solvent, in which 0.5 or more to 3.0 mass % or less of the inorganic oxide particle and 1.0 to 5.0 mass % of the insoluble particle are dispersed based on the mass of the solid content of the conductive particle, the ceramic powder, the inorganic oxide particle, and the insoluble particle.

A process for preparing alloy products is described using a self-sustaining or self-propagating SHS-type combustion process with point-source ignition, preferably a laser, in a pressurized vessel. Binary, ternary and quaternary alloys can be formed with control over polycrystalline structure and bandgap. Methods to tune the bandgap and the alloys formed are described. The alloy products may be doped. Preferably sulfides, tellurides or selenides are formed. Cooling during reaction takes place.

The present disclosure discloses a ceramic material having a positive slow release effect and a method for manufacturing the same. The ceramic material comprises a hierarchically meso-macroporous structure which composition at least includes silicon and oxygen, wherein the hierarchically meso-macroporous structure includes a plurality of macropores and a wall having a plurality of arranged mesopores, and the plurality of macropores are separated by the wall; and nano-scale metal particles confined in at least one of the plurality of arranged mesopores. The nano-scale metal particles have a positive slow release effect from the at least one of the plurality of arranged mesopores. The ceramic material has a property of inhibiting growth of microorganisms or killing the microorganisms in an environment or a system containing a hydrophilic medium.

Scalable 3D-printing of ceramics includes dispensing a preceramic polymer at the tip of a moving nozzle into a gel that can reversibly switch between fluid and solid states, and subsequently thermally cross-linking the entire printed part “at-once” while still inside the same gel. The solid gel, including mineral oil and silica nanoparticles, converts to fluid at the tip of the moving nozzle, allows the polymer solution to be dispensed, and quickly returns to a solid state to maintain the geometry of the printed polymer both during printing and the subsequent high temperature (160° C.) cross-linking. The cross-linked part is retrieved from the gel and converted to ceramic by high temperature pyrolysis. This scalable process opens new opportunities for low-cost, high-speed production of complex 3-dimensional ceramic parts, and will be widely used for high temperature and corrosive environment applications, including electronics and sensors, microelectromechanical systems, energy, and structural applications.

The object of this invention is a process for manufacturing, conditioning and stabilization of a family of base additives sodium, potassium, boron, silicon, zinc, calcium oxides, among others, prepared by physicochemical and chemical synthesis methods that form nanometric structures, reformulated with deflocculant, sequestrants and dispersants additives that allow to obtain a dispersion or powder capable to decrease the sintering temperature of a ceramic body due to the high fluxing power, which is maximized by the use of nanotechnology in the structures obtained. The process consists in the preparation of nucleation seeds of metal, silicates and carbonates oxides by means of a physicochemical process, and which allow nanometric structures to grow by means of a chemical process in a chemical synthesis process wet basis of sodium, boron, silicon, zinc, potassium and calcium oxides. The combination of these oxides allows structuring elements of high fluxing power due to their high surface area and physicochemical composition. The additives prepared in this invention are chemically stabilized with deflocculating agents, which allow the additives to be incorporated into the aqueous medium grinding process of the ceramic body. Applications made with the additives of this invention allow the sintering temperature of a red body to be reduced from 1150° C. to 1000° C. and in porcelain bodies from 1180° C. to 1050° C., with the use of 0.2 to 5% of the additive, or increasing the speed of the heat treatment by up to 20%, and it can be used in the manufacture of bathroom fittings, molding parts, components for tooling, coatings, valances, enamels, vitrified pastes and other ceramic components. The present invention proposes several nanostructured additive formulations with high performance fluxing properties, which allow to optimize and standardize the sintering process and to improve the mechanical properties of the ceramic body. It also proposes different methods of application of the additive in ceramic formulations.

A ceramic article includes a ceramic matrix composite that has a porous reinforcement structure and a ceramic matrix within pores of the porous reinforcement structure. The ceramic matrix composite includes a surface zone comprised of an exterior surface of the ceramic matrix composite and pores that extend from the exterior surface into the ceramic matrix composite. A glaze material seals the surface zone within the pores of the surface zone and on the exterior surface of the surface zone as an exterior glaze layer on the ceramic matrix composite. The glaze material is a glass or glass-ceramic material. The ceramic matrix composite includes an interior zone under the surface zone, and the interior zone is free of any of the glaze material and has a greater porosity than the surface zone.

A surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate and its method of formation is disclosed. The surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate comprises a solid support, a first noble metal nanoparticles is disposed on the solid support, a porous oxide layer comprising transition metal oxide nanoparticles is disposed on the first noble metal nanoparticles and a second noble metal nanoparticles is disposed on the porous oxide layer. The porous oxide layer prevents contact between the first noble metal nanoparticles and the second noble metal nanoparticles and has a mean pore size of 2 to 30 nm.

A thermoelectric conversion material made of a sintered body containing a magnesium silicide as a major component includes: a magnesium silicide phase; and a magnesium oxide layer formed on a surface layer of the magnesium silicide phase, in which an aluminum concentrated layer having an Al concentration higher than an aluminum concentration in an inside of the magnesium silicide phase is formed between the magnesium oxide layer and the magnesium silicide phase, and the aluminum concentrated layer has a metallic aluminum phase including aluminum or an aluminum alloy.

A surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate and its method of formation is disclosed. The surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate comprises a solid support, a first noble metal nanoparticles is disposed on the solid support, a porous oxide layer comprising transition metal oxide nanoparticles is disposed on the first noble metal nanoparticles and a second noble metal nanoparticles is disposed on the porous oxide layer. The porous oxide layer prevents contact between the first noble metal nanoparticles and the second noble metal nanoparticles and has a mean pore size of 2 to 30 nm.