The present disclosure relates to a flow through electrode, capacitive deionization (FTE-CDI) system which is able to adsorb nitrates from water being treated using the system. The system makes use of a pair of electrodes arranged generally parallel to one another, with a water permeable dielectric sandwiched between the electrodes. The electrodes receive a direct current voltage from an electrical circuit. At least one of the electrodes is formed from a carbon material having a hierarchical pore size distribution which includes a first plurality of pores having a width of no more than about 1 nm, and a second plurality of micro-sized pores. The micron-sized pores enable a flow of water to be pushed through the electrodes while the first plurality of pores form adsorption sites for nitrate molecules carried in the water flowing through the electrodes.

The present invention relates to a method for preparing an aqueous or hydro-alcoholic colloidal solution of metal chalcogenide amorphous nanoparticles notably of the Cu.sub.2ZnSnS.sub.4 (CZTS) type and to the obtained colloidal solution.

The present invention also relates to a method for manufacturing a film of large-grain crystallized semi-conducting metal chalcogenide film notably of CZTS obtained from an aqueous or hydro-alcoholic colloidal solution according to the invention, said film being useful as an absorption layer deposited on a substrate applied in a solid photovoltaic device.

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a composite sheet comprising an aerogel sheet, which comprises: a step (S10) of preparing the aerogel sheet (30); a step (S20) of laminating a fiber sheet (10) on each of both surfaces of the aerogel sheet (30); and a step (S30) of applying heat and a pressure to the aerogel sheet (30) and the fiber sheet (10), which are laminated, to bond the sheets to each other and to manufacture the composite sheet (40) in which the fiber sheet (10), the aerogel sheet (30), and the fiber sheet (10) are laminated.

[Problem] Provided is a method for producing a silica sol capable of providing consistent production of the silica sol having a uniform particle size of silica particles in any particle size of the silica particles.

[Solution] A method for producing a silica sol is a method including a step of mixing liquid (A) containing an alkaline catalyst, water, and a first organic solvent with liquid (B) containing an alkoxysilane or its condensate and a second organic solvent, and liquid (C1) having a pH of 5.0 or higher and lower than 8.0 and containing water or liquid (C2) containing water and being free of an alkaline catalyst to make a reaction liquid.

The present invention relates to a method for preparing an aqueous or hydro-alcoholic colloidal solution of metal chalcogenide amorphous nanoparticles notably of the Cu.sub.2ZnSnS.sub.4 (CZTS) type and to the obtained colloidal solution. The present invention also relates to a method for manufacturing a film of large-grain crystallized semi-conducting metal chalcogenide film notably of CZTS obtained from an aqueous or hydro-alcoholic colloidal solution according to the invention, said film being useful as an absorption layer deposited on a substrate applied in a solid photovoltaic device.

A graphene material in a specific form is provided that has a high dispersibility and can maintain a high electric conductivity and ion conductivity when used as material for electrode manufacturing. A graphene dispersion liquid is provided including graphene dispersed in a solvent having a N-methyl pyrolidone content of 50 mass % or more and, when diluted with N-methylpyrolidone to a graphene weight fraction of 0.000013, giving a diluted solution having a weight-based absorptivity coefficient, which is calculated by Equation (1) given below, of 25,000 cm1 or more and 200,000 cm1 or less at a wavelength of 270 nm:
weight-based absorptivity coefficient (cm.sup.1)=absorbance/{0.000013cell's optical path length (cm)}.(1)

[Problem] Provided is a method for producing a silica sol capable of providing consistent production of the silica sol having a uniform particle size of silica particles in any particle size of the silica particles. [Solution] A method for producing a silica sol is a method including a step of mixing liquid (A) containing an alkaline catalyst, water, and a first organic solvent with liquid (B) containing an alkoxysilane or its condensate and a second organic solvent, and liquid (C1) having a pH of 5.0 or higher and lower than 8.0 and containing water or liquid (C2) containing water and being free of an alkaline catalyst to make a reaction liquid.

The present invention discloses a process for the preparation of metal sulphide quantum dots by using a very low cost sulphur precursor as a sulphur source. The metal sulphide quantum dots finds application in optical devices selected from photovoltaic cells, photodetectors and light-emission devices.

Provided is a method suitable for industrial-scale production of a dispersion in which nano-sized particles are dispersed. Specifically, a method for producing a nanoparticle-in-oil dispersion in which fine particles made up of a solid component, an aqueous liquid component or a mixture thereof are dispersed in an oil phase, includes: (1) a step of preparing a W/O emulsion-type precursor in which an aqueous phase in the form of droplets of an aqueous solution having a water-soluble substance dissolved therein is dispersed in an oil phase; and (2) a step of boiling the aqueous phase of the W/O emulsion-type precursor, to obtain a nanoparticle-in-oil dispersion in which the fine particles are dispersed in the oil phase.

A two-step process is provided for forming large photonic single crystals of about 0.1 millimeter and greater via DNA coated colloidal particles. The two-step process generally include decoupling the nucleation and growth steps. In particular, DNA colloidal particles are partitioned in nanoliter droplets formed in a water in oil emulsion using microfluidics. Once a crystal nucleates within a droplet, depletion of particles occurs as the crystal grows inhibit formation of more crystals within the droplet. A small number of droplets containing these seed crystals are then mixed with droplets containing weak DNA coated colloidal particles. The emulsion is then broken and heated at a temperature effective to cause dissociation of the weak particles while the seeds remain stable. The system is further cooled at a temperature effective that the particles stably adhere to the seed crystals resulting in growth while inhibiting nucleation of new crystals.