Described herein are processes and apparatus for the large-scale synthesis of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) by induction-coupled plasma (ICP). A boron-containing feedstock may be heated by ICP in the presence of nitrogen gas at an elevated pressure, to form vaporized boron. The vaporized boron may be cooled to form boron droplets, such as nanodroplets. Cooling may take place using a condenser, for example. BNNTs may then form downstream and can be harvested.

A production apparatus for fine particles includes a vacuum chamber, a material feeding device connected to the vacuum chamber and feeding material particles from a material feeding port into the vacuum chamber, electrodes arranged in the vacuum chamber for generating plasma and a fine particle collection device connected to the vacuum chamber and collecting fine particles. The fine particles are produced from the material by generating electric discharge inside the vacuum chamber. The apparatus includes an inner chamber which forms an outside space with respect to the vacuum chamber installed between a wall of the vacuum chamber and a plasma generation region and gas supply pipes which supply a gas to the outside space between the wall of the vacuum chamber and a wall of the inner chamber.

An alternative process and device for carrying out Fischer Tropsch (FT) syntheses is proposed, allowing the reactant entities that take part in the FT reaction to be activated and their contributions, whether by quantity or by proportion, to be adjusted. The process consists in making a particulate phase, optionally consisting of catalytic particles, flow through a reactor. While flowing through the reactor, the particulate phase is subjected at regular intervals to the action of a plasma obtained from a gas, such as hydrogen, thus enabling hydrogen activation for hydrogenation of carbon monoxide, or carbon monoxide activation in order to lengthen the carbon chains.

The invention relates to a reactor comprising a plasma source and a catalyst comprising a mesoporous support. The invention also relates to a process comprising feeding methane to said reactor in order to obtain one or more of ethene, hydrogen and carbon as well as downstream products derived from ethene thus obtained. The invention relates to a reactor comprising as reactor parts: a. a housing and in said housing; b. a plasma source; and c. a catalyst, wherein said catalyst comprises as catalyst parts: i) a mesoporous support; ii) a metal selected from the group Pd, Ni, Ag or at least two thereof, wherein the metal is carried by said mesoporous support; wherein at least a part of said plasma source is located in said housing upstream of said catalyst.

Methods of making fuel are described herein. A method may include providing a first working fluid, a second working fluid, and a third working fluid. The method may also include exposing the first working fluid to a first high voltage electric field to produce a first plasma, exposing the second working fluid to a second high voltage electric field to produce a second plasma, and exposing the third working fluid to a third high voltage electric field to produce a third plasma. The method may also include providing and contacting a carbon-based feedstock with the third plasma, the second plasma, and the first plasma within a processing chamber to form a mixture, cooling the mixture using a heat exchange device to form a cooled mixture, and contacting the cooled mixture with a catalyst to form a fuel.

The present invention is drawn to the generation of micropatterns of biomolecules and cells on standard laboratory materials through selective ablation of a physisorbed biomolecule with oxygen plasma. In certain embodiments, oxygen plasma is able to ablate selectively physisorbed layers of biomolecules (e.g., type-I collagen, fibronectin, laminin, and Matrigel) along complex non-linear paths which are difficult or impossible to pattern using alternative methods. In addition, certain embodiments of the present invention relate to the micropatterning of multiple cell types on curved surfaces, multiwell plates, and flat bottom flasks. The invention also features kits for use with the subject methods.

Apparatus for treating materials with plasma, comprising a microwave generator (15), a waveguide (20) and a tubular torch (30), comprising three coaxial tubes (33, 35, 37) and a central section (30.2) connected to the waveguide (20) by means of a body (50) having a cavity (52) through which the tubes pass. A plasma containment chamber is defined in the outer tube (35) at the cavity (52) of the body (50).

Devices and methods for reducing the specific energy required to reform or pyrolyze reactants in plasmas operating at high flow rates and high pressures are presented. These systems and methods include 1) introducing electrons and/or easily ionized materials to a plasma reactor, 2) increasing turbulence and swirl velocity of the flows of feed gases to have improved mixing in a plasma reactor, and 3) reducing slippage from a plasma reactor system. Such plasma systems may allow plasma reactors to operate at lower temperatures, higher pressure, with improved plasma ignition, increased throughput and improved energy efficiency. In preferred embodiments, the plasma reactors are used to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide, hydrogen and carbon, or carbon monoxide through reforming and pyrolysis reactions. Preferred feedstocks include methane, carbon dioxide, and other hydrocarbons.

A method for producing plasmonic nanomaterials that are catalytically or photocatalytically active by fabricating plasmonic nanostructures on substrates using electrodeposition into a nano-template structure and forming a plurality of nanorods in an array, wherein the nanorods are made from materials chosen from the group consisting of materials that are plasmonic and/or catalytic, and materials that are catalytically activated by depositing pure elemental metals, alloys, or alternating layers of different metals or alloys, and producing catalytic plasmonic nanomaterials. Catalytic plasmonic nanomaterials made from the above method. An optical reactor device that utilizes catalytic nanomaterials for photocatalytic synthesis of methanol or ammonia. A method of photocatalytic synthesis of methanol and ammonia by using catalytic plasmonic nanomaterial to convert CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2 to methanol and N.sub.2 and H.sub.2 to ammonia using optical power. A hybrid plasma-plasmonic reactor for the utilization of CO.sub.2 and CH.sub.4 to produce methanol, ethylene, and acetic acid.

The present invention is drawn to the generation of micropatterns of biomolecules and cells on standard laboratory materials through selective ablation of a physisorbed biomolecule with oxygen plasma. In certain embodiments, oxygen plasma is able to ablate selectively physisorbed layers of biomolecules (e.g., type-I collagen, fibronectin, laminin, and Matrigel) along complex non-linear paths which are difficult or impossible to pattern using alternative methods. In addition, certain embodiments of the present invention relate to the micropatterning of multiple cell types on curved surfaces, multiwell plates, and flat bottom flasks. The invention also features kits for use with the subject methods.