There is provided an aggregate of metal fine particles, a metal fine particle dispersion liquid, a heat ray shielding film, a heat ray shielding glass, a heat ray shielding fine particle dispersion body and a heat ray shielding laminated transparent base material, having sufficient properties as a solar radiation shielding material which widely shields a heat ray component included in sunlight, and in which selectivity of a light absorption wavelength is controlled, wherein when a shape each metal fine particle is approximated to an ellipsoid, and mutually orthogonal semi-axial lengths are defined as a, b, c (abc) respectively, an average, a standard deviation, and a distribution, etc., of the values of the aspect ratio a/c of the metal fine particles are in a predetermined range, and the metal is silver or a silver alloy.

Techniques are disclosed for milling an iron-containing raw material in the presence of a nitrogen source to generate anisotropically shaped particles that include iron nitride and have an aspect ratio of at least 1.4. Techniques for nitridizing an anisotropic particle including iron, and annealing an anisotropic particle including iron nitride to form at least one -Fe.sub.16N.sub.2 phase domain within the anisotropic particle including iron nitride also are disclosed. In addition, techniques for aligning and joining anisotropic particles to form a bulk material including iron nitride, such as a bulk permanent magnet including at least one -Fe.sub.16N.sub.2 phase domain, are described. Milling apparatuses utilizing elongated bars, an electric field, and a magnetic field also are disclosed.

A method for producing an electrically conductive thin film on a substrate is disclosed. Initially, a reducible metal compound and a reducing agent are dispersed in a liquid. The dispersion is then deposited on a substrate as a thin film. The thin film along with the substrate is subsequently exposed to a pulsed electromagnetic emission to chemically react with the reducible metal compound and the reducing agent such that the thin film becomes electrically conductive.

First, a liquid mixture is obtained by mixing at least a silver compound, a reductant, and a dispersant (S1). Then, the liquid mixture is heated to cause reaction between the silver compound and the reductant and generate first silver particles each having a sheet-like or plate-like shape and second silver particles each having a spherical shape or a shape closer to a sphere than the first silver particles and a particle diameter smaller than a maximum value of a length of a side of each of the first silver particles (S2).

Techniques are disclosed for milling an iron-containing raw material in the presence of a nitrogen source to generate anisotropically shaped particles that include iron nitride and have an aspect ratio of at least 1.4. Techniques for nitridizing an anisotropic particle including iron, and annealing an anisotropic particle including iron nitride to form at least one a-Fe16N2 phase domain within the anisotropic particle including iron nitride also are disclosed. In addition, techniques for aligning and joining anisotropic particles to form a bulk material including iron nitride, such as a bulk permanent magnet including at least one a-Fe16N2 phase domain, are described. Milling apparatuses utilizing elongated bars, an electric field, and a magnetic field also are disclosed.

A method for producing an electrically conductive thin film on a substrate is disclosed. Initially, a reducible metal compound and a reducing agent are dispersed in a liquid. The dispersion is then deposited on a substrate as a thin film. The thin film along with the substrate is subsequently exposed to a pulsed electromagnetic emission to chemically react with the reducible metal compound and the reducing agent such that the thin film becomes electrically conductive.

Methods of synthesizing various metal nanoparticle structures having high uniformity, using iterative reduction and oxidation conditions, is provided herein.

Provided are gold-coated flat silver particles, a dispersion including the gold-coated flat silver particles and a dispersion medium, a method of the dispersion, a coating film including the gold-coated flat silver particles, and an antireflection optical member. The gold-coated flat silver particles include flat silver particles and a gold coating layer, in which an average thickness of the gold coating layer on principal planes of the particles is 0.1 nm to 2 nm, and a ratio of the average thickness of the gold coating layer on the principal planes of the particles to an average thickness of the gold coating layer on edge surfaces of the particles is 0.02 or higher.

Cu-based nanostructures have excellent catalytic, electronic, and plasmonic performance due to their unique chemical and physical properties. A range of Cu materials including foil, spherical nanoparticles, nanowires, and nanocubes have been explored for catalyzing CO.sub.2 electroreduction. However, practical application of the CO.sub.2 electroreduction reaction requires Cu catalysts hold a high percentage of exposed surface atoms for improved product selectivity. The present disclosure describes a high temperature reduction method to prepare Cu nanosheets with size range from about 40 nm to about 13 m in a hydrophobic system. The purity of trioctyphosphine (TOP) plays an important role for shape-controlled synthesis of Cu nanosheets. The morphology evolution was investigated by adjusting the feeding molar ratio of TOP/Cu-tetradecylamine complex. The Cu nanosheets formed by the methods of the present disclosure have high surface area and stability in solution for more than three months. These Cu nanosheets have applications in reducing CO.sub.2 to fuels.

The invention provides a green chemistry, aqueous method to synthesize gold nanoparticles directly from bulk gold sources. The method involves the ultrasonication of bulk gold in water in the presence of an alkythiol species and a quaternary ammonium surfactant. An organic bilayer forms on the surface of the gold which renders it susceptible to material ejection from the violent collapse of cavitation bubbles. This ejected material is stabilized in solution by the formation of an organic bilayer and can be easily separated. It can then be subjected to an aqueous digestive ripening step to give a gold nanoparticle ensemble with a well-defined plasmon resonance. This method is applicable to a number of different sources of bulk gold. The method can be applied to an environmentally important problem; the recovery of gold from electronic waste streams. For example, gold nanoparticles can be extracted directly from the surface of SIM cards, with no prior manipulation of the cards necessary.