A process of growth in the thickness of at least one facet of a colloidal inorganic sheet. By sheet is meant a structure having at least one dimension, the thickness, of nanometric size and lateral dimensions great compared to the thickness, typically more than 5 times the thickness. By homostructured is meant a material of homogeneous composition in the thickness and by heterostructured is meant a material of heterogeneous composition in the thickness. The process allows the deposition of at least one monolayer of atoms on at least one inorganic colloidal sheet, this monolayer being constituted of atoms of the type of those contained or not in the sheet. Homostructured and heterostructured materials resulting from such process as well as the applications of the materials are also described.

A method for controllably producing a hematite-containing Fischer-Tropsch catalyst by combining an iron nitrate solution with a precipitating agent solution at a precipitating temperature and over a precipitation time to form a precipitate comprising iron phases; holding the precipitate from at a hold temperature for a hold time to provide a hematite containing precipitate; and washing the hematite containing precipitate via contact with a wash solution and filtering, to provide a washed hematite containing catalyst. The method may further comprise promoting the washed hematite containing catalyst with a chemical promoter; spray drying the promoted hematite containing catalyst; and calcining the spray dried hematite containing catalyst to provide a calcined hematite-containing Fischer-Tropsch catalyst.

Systems and methods for providing alternative fuel, in particular hydrogen photocatalytically generated by a system comprising photoactive nanoparticles and a nitrogenase cofactor are provided. In one aspect, the system includes a water soluble cadmium selenide nanoparticle (CdSe) surface capped with mercaptosuccinate (CdSe-MSA) and a NafY.FeMo-co complex comprising a NafY protein and an iron-molybdenum cofactor (FeMo-co), wherein the CdSe-MSA and NafY.Math.FeMo-co complex are present in about 1:2 to 1:10 molar ratio.

The present description relates to metal alloy electrocatalysts, preferably composed of Ni and Co as transition metals and Se as a chalcogen. The electrocatalysts can take the form of nanochalcogenides that can be made using cryogenic milling followed by surfactant-assistant milling. The electrocatalysts can be used in the context of water electrolysis or electroreduction of CO.sub.2 gas into carbon based products.

An electrode assembly includes a first electrode and a dielectric layer on the first electrode. The dielectric layer includes a bismuth compound of the formula Bi.sub.2(CrO.sub.4).sub.2Cr.sub.2O.sub.7, Pb.sub.4(BiO.sub.4)(PO.sub.4), Ag.sub.3BiO.sub.3, Bi.sub.2CdO.sub.2(GeO.sub.4), Bi.sub.2Te.sub.4O.sub.11, Cs.sub.6Bi.sub.4O.sub.9, Na.sub.3Bi(PO.sub.4).sub.2, Bi.sub.2(SeO.sub.3).sub.3, or a combination thereof. The electrode assembly can be particularly useful in various electronic devices.