Methods for making a plurality of microparticles from a reaction solution that includes an organic acid in a solvent are provided. An example aerosol ink includes a plurality of palladium-chromium metallic microparticles dispersed in a solvent system, wherein the plurality of palladium-chromium metallic microparticles include a palladium-chromium alloy.

To provide a method for producing surface-modified metal oxide fine particles, which can produce surface-modified metal oxide fine particles having excellent dispersion stability in dispersion liquids having various compositions; a method for producing improved metal oxide fine particles, suitable as a method for producing metal oxide fine particles to be surface-modified in production of the surface-modified metal oxide fine particles; surface-modified metal oxide fine particles which can be produced by the method for producing surface-modified metal oxide fine particles; and a metal oxide fine particle dispersion liquid including the surface-modified metal oxide fine particles. Surface-modified metal oxide fine particles are produced by a method including coating at least a part of surfaces of metal oxide fine particles with a carboxylic acid compound having a certain structure substituted with an amino group which may be cyclic, and/or carboxylate thereof.

An electrode catalyst for an oxygen reduction reaction including intermetallic L1.sub.0-NiPtAg alloy nanoparticles having enhanced ORR activity and durability. The catalyst including intermetallic L1.sub.0-NiPtAg alloy nanoparticles is synthesized by employing silver (Ag) as a dopant and annealing under specific conditions to form the intermetallic structure. In one example, the intermetallic L1.sub.0-NiPtAg alloy nanoparticles are represented by the formula: Ni.sub.xPt.sub.yAg.sub.z wherein 0.4≤x≤0.6, 0.4≤y≤0.6, z≤0.1.

Disclosed herein are methods of making a plurality of metal particles, the methods comprising: injecting a metal particle precursor, a capping material, and a reducing agent into an inlet of a continuous flow microwave reactor, thereby forming a mixture within the continuous flow microwave reactor, wherein the inlet of the continuous flow microwave reactor is fluidly connected to an outlet of the continuous flow microwave reactor through a reaction vessel; flowing the mixture through the reaction vessel, wherein the metal particle precursor is reduced within the reaction vessel, thereby forming the plurality of metal particles; and collecting the plurality of metal particles from the outlet of the continuous flow microwave reactor.

A method for manufacturing a catalyst for a fuel cell can include provision of a platinum precursor and a carbon material. The platinum precursor and the carbon material can be mixed to form a platinum carbon mixture. The platinum carbon mixture can be heated to form a porous solid. The porous solid can be milled to form a powder. The powder can be reacted with a reducing agent to form the catalyst.

Proposed is an iridium alloy catalyst having reversible catalytic activity for an oxygen evolution reaction (OER), a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), and a hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) by including an iridium alloy including iridium (Ir) and nickel (Ni). The iridium alloy catalyst according to the present disclosure is rapidly converted to an iridium alloy catalyst in an oxide form and an iridium alloy catalyst in a metallic form according to applied voltage by controlling its crystallinity. Thus, even in case an oxide layer is formed after the OER, the oxidation layer disappears during the HER and HOR and the properties of an iridium metal catalyst remain, thereby maintaining HER/HOR performance.

Processes for refurbishing a spent sputtering target with a non-circular shape are disclosed. In one form, the processes include the steps of receiving one or more spent sputtering targets, inspecting and weighing the spent sputtering targets, removing any contaminants or other surface impurities from the spent sputtering target surfaces, preparing a hot press die with spacers, disposing the spent sputtering targets in the hot press die, the spacers used to center the spent sputtering targets therein, loading fresh metal refilling powder into the die to account for depleted regions of the spent sputtering targets to produce a powder-filled sputtering target, and applying sufficient heat and force to the filled sputtering target to produce a refurbished sputtering target with homogeneous composition and sufficient adhesion strength.

Provided is a method of making colloidal platinum nanoparticles. The method includes three consecutive steps: dissolving platinum powders by a halogen-containing oxidizing agent in HCl to obtain an inorganic platinum solution containing an inorganic platinum compound; adding a reducing agent into the same reaction vessel to form a mixture solution and heating the mixture solution to undergo a reduction reaction and produce a composition containing platinum nanoparticles, residues and a gas, and guiding the gas out of the reaction vessel, wherein the amount of the residues is less than 15% by volume of the mixture solution; and adding a medium into the same reaction vessel to disperse the platinum nanoparticles to obtain colloidal platinum nanoparticles. The method is simple, safe, time-effective, cost-effective, and has the advantage of high yield.

Provided herein are methods of preparing tetrahexahedra nanoparticles and methods of using the tetrahexahedra nanoparticles as an oxidative catalyst.

A method to reduce the number and type of processing steps to achieve conductive lines in the planes of a substrate concurrently interconnecting conductor through the substrate, by forming structures in the planes of a substrate. These structures may include interconnect lines, bond pads, and other structures, and improve the performance of subsequent unique processing while simultaneously reducing the manufacturing complexity to reduce time and cost. These structures are formed by selective etching using chemical mechanical polishing, and then completed using a single fill step with a conductive material.