The present disclosure relates to methods of preparing sols of titanium dioxide nanoparticles that are photoactive, neutral, and in a substantially concentrated form. The methods particularly provide for concentrated sols in light of washing and dewatering under low cation concentrations and utilizing rapid peptizing through addition of the filter case to the peptizing agent. Concentrated acid may be utilized to maintain high TiO.sub.2 concentration while still avoiding precipitation of the colloidal TiO.sub.2. Concentrated photoactive, neutral titanium dioxide sols are also provided as well as compositions thereof and photoactive coatings formed therewith.

The invention relates to an apparatus and methods for producing liquid colloids such as suspensions of nanoparticles, in which liquid feedstock materials are reacted on a reaction surface of a rotatable plate. The apparatus has a first plate (101) mounted for rotation about a rotation axis (102), the first plate (101) providing a reaction surface (103) having a concave portion; first (106) and second (107) inlet lines arranged to introduce respective first and second liquid feedstock materials to the reaction surface (103); and a collection unit (110) arranged to collect a reaction product formed from reaction of the liquid feedstock materials as a liquid colloid ejected from an outer edge of the plate (101).

The present invention relates to a method of preparing a positive electrode material for a lithium secondary battery including a first step of synthesizing a lithium transition metal oxide represented by Chemical Formula 1, a second step of preparing lithium transition metal oxide powder by grinding the lithium transition metal oxide, a third step of preparing a positive electrode material including an alumina coating layer by mixing as well as dispersing the lithium transition metal oxide powder in an alumina nanosol, and a fourth step of drying the positive electrode material, a positive electrode material for a lithium secondary battery prepared by the above method, and a lithium secondary battery including the positive electrode material,
Li.sub.(1+a)(Ni.sub.(1abc)Mn.sub.bCo.sub.c)O.sub.n[Chemical Formula 1] where 0a0.1, 0b1, 0<c1, and n is an integer of 2 or 4.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a colloid comprising functionalised liquid colloidal particles. The invention also relates to such a colloid and to the uses thereof.

Hybrid microparticle having a polymer core and a shell which surrounds the polymer core at least in sections and which has a silicon dioxide layer; characterized by an RF value, the RF value being defined as the ratio of an external surface area amenable to the adsorption of nitrogen to a surface area which is computable from an arithmetic mean diameter of the hybrid microparticle considered as an ideal sphere, where the shell has a structure selected from: closed and smooth, with the shell having an RF value of between 1 and 1.5; closed and hillocky, with the shell having an RF value of between 1.51 and 3; or open, with the shell having an RF value of greater than 3.01.

A composition of matter includes a liquid and nanoparticles suspended in the liquid. The nanoparticles each include silica, alumina, and an organosilicon functional group having a molecular weight of at least 200. A method includes functionalizing a surface of nanoparticles with an organosilicon functional group and dispersing the nanoparticles in a liquid to form a suspension. The functional group has a molecular weight of at least 200. The nanoparticles each include silica and alumina at a surface thereof.

The present invention describes a fluid which is suitable for the decontamination of heat engines which can carry out both the catalytic reduction of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) contained in exhaust gases and assist in the regeneration of the particulate filter (PF), said fluid being in the form of a stable suspension of colloidal particles, these colloidal particles being dispersed in an aqueous solution containing at least one reducing agent or at least one precursor of a reducing agent for NOx. The invention also describes several embodiments for the preparation of said fluid.

The invention concerns thermally insulating materials comprising the aforementioned particles, a process for the preparation of these particles and materials obtained by incorporation of these particles into matrices. The present invention also concerns inorganic spherical and hollow inorganic particles with low apparent density imparting thermal properties to various types of matrices in which they are dispersed.

The present invention is in the field of fluids and the like comprising magnetic particles, such as ferromagnetic particles, anti-ferromagnetic particles, ferrimagnetic particles, synthetic magnetic particles, paramagnetic particles, superparamagnetic particles, such as magnetic fluids, a method of stabilizing magnetic particles, use of these fluids and functionalized particles. Such fluids have a large variety of applications, such as sealants, as a sensor, in biomedics, etc. The present invention is further directed to a method of obtaining a catalyst for use in the depolymerisation of polymers into oligomers and monomer.

A composition of matter includes a liquid and nanoparticles suspended in the liquid. The nanoparticles each include silica, alumina, and an organosilicon functional group having a molecular weight of at least 200. A method includes functionalizing a surface of nanoparticles with an organosilicon functional group and dispersing the nanoparticles in a liquid to form a suspension. The functional group has a molecular weight of at least 200. The nanoparticles each include silica and alumina at a surface thereof.