A method for forming films on particles of powder includes diffusing the powder by leading the powder into a jet nozzle and ejecting a jet flow of the powder; leading the diffused particles of powder, a raw material gas, and a reaction gas activated by atmospheric pressure plasma, into a reaction container, and forming a swirl flow in the container; and forming the films on the diffused particles of powder by reaction of a raw material gas and an activated reaction gas in the container. An apparatus is also disclosed having a reaction container with a peripheral wall having a round section in plan view and a jet nozzle for a powder source, raw material gas, and atmospheric pressure plasma sources are coupled to and enter the container at an angle with a radius thereof thereby forming a swirl flow to form a film on the powder.

A method for forming films on particles of powder includes diffusing the powder by leading the powder into a jet nozzle and ejecting a jet flow of the powder; leading the diffused particles of powder, a raw material gas, and a reaction gas activated by atmospheric pressure plasma, into a reaction container, and forming a swirl flow in the container; and forming the films on the diffused particles of powder by reaction of a raw material gas and an activated reaction gas in the container. An apparatus is also disclosed having a reaction container with a peripheral wall having a round section in plan view and a jet nozzle for a powder source, raw material gas, and atmospheric pressure plasma sources are coupled to and enter the container at an angle with a radius thereof thereby forming a swirl flow to form a film on the powder.

A soft magnetic alloy including an internal area having a soft magnetic type alloy composition including Fe and Co, a Co concentrated area existing closer to a surface side than the internal area and having a higher Co concentration than in the internal area, and a SB concentrated area existing closer to the surface side than the Co concentrated area and having a higher concentration of at least one element selected from Si and B than in the internal area.

The invention includes apparatus and methods for instantiating precious metals in a nanoporous carbon powder.

Powders, electrodes, zinc-air batteries and corresponding methods are provided. Powders comprise perforated shells having a size of at least 100 nm and comprising openings smaller than 10 nm. The shells are electrically conductive and/or comprise an electrically conductive coating. Powders further comprise zinc and/or zinc oxide which resides at least partially within the shells. Methods comprise wetting the shells with a zinc solution to yield at least partial penetration of the zinc solution through the openings, and coating zinc internally in the shells by application of electric current to the shells. Upon electrode preparation from the powder, cell construction and cell operation, zinc is oxidized to provide energy and the shells retain formed Zn O therewith, providing sufficient volume for the associated expansion and maintaining thereby the mechanical stability and structure of the electrode—to enable many operation cycles of the rechargeable zinc-air batteries.

Powders, electrodes, zinc-air batteries and corresponding methods are provided. Powders comprise perforated shells having a size of at least 100 nm and comprising openings smaller than 10 nm. The shells are electrically conductive and/or comprise an electrically conductive coating. Powders further comprise zinc and/or zinc oxide which resides at least partially within the shells. Methods comprise wetting the shells with a zinc solution to yield at least partial penetration of the zinc solution through the openings, and coating zinc internally in the shells by application of electric current to the shells. Upon electrode preparation from the powder, cell construction and cell operation, zinc is oxidized to provide energy and the shells retain formed Zn O therewith, providing sufficient volume for the associated expansion and maintaining thereby the mechanical stability and structure of the electrode—to enable many operation cycles of the rechargeable zinc-air batteries.

Aluminum-boron nitride nanotube composites and methods of making thereof are disclosed herein. In at least one specific embodiment, the method can include: at least partially coating boron nitride nanotubes with aluminum to make an aluminum-boron nitride nanotube layered structure, where the at least partially coating is performed by sputter deposition, and where the boron nitride nanotubes have a length of about 100 μm to about 300 μm; sintering the aluminum-boron nitride nanotube layered structure to make an aluminum-boron nitride nanotube pellet, where the sintering is performed by spark plasma sintering; and rolling the aluminum-boron nitride nanotube pellet to make the aluminum-boron nitride nanotube composite.

The disclosure relates to sintering compositions that can be used in three-dimensional printing or additive manufacturing processes. The sintering compositions generally include one or more metallic iron-containing powders and a minor amount of a boron-containing powder as a sintering aid. Sintered models or products formed from the sintering compositions have substantially improved density and surface roughness values relative to models formed without the boron-containing powder.

A low carbon footprint material is used to decrease the carbon dioxide emission for production of a high carbon footprint substance. A method of forming composite materials comprises providing a first high carbon footprint substance; providing a carbon nanomaterial produced with a carbon-footprint of less than 10 unit weight of carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) emission during production of 1 unit weight of the carbon nanomaterial; and forming a composite comprising the high carbon footprint substance and from 0.001 wt % to 25 wt % of the carbon nanomaterial, wherein the carbon nanomaterial is homogeneously dispersed in the composite to reduce the carbon dioxide emission for producing the composite material relative to the high carbon footprint substance.

Described herein is a radiation shielding composition and a method for making comprising: (i) a boron-containing powder wherein the boron-containing powder comprises at least a bimodal particle size distribution, and (ii) a metal, wherein the metal encapsulates the ceramic powder to form the radiation shielding composition.