The present invention provides a novel lithium titanium sulfide, lithium niobium sulfide, or lithium titanium niobium sulfide that contains a sulfide containing lithium, titanium and/or niobium, and sulfur as constituent elements, and that has excellent charge-discharge performance (especially excellent charge-discharge capacity and charge-discharge potential) useful as a cathode active material or the like for lithium batteries, such as metal lithium secondary batteries or lithium-ion secondary batteries. Particularly preferred are, for example, (1) lithium titanium sulfide containing lithium, titanium, and sulfur as constituent elements and having a cubic rock salt crystal structure, (2) lithium niobium sulfide containing lithium, niobium, and sulfur as constituent elements and having a diffraction peak at a specific position in an X-ray diffractogram, and (3) lithium titanium niobium sulfide containing lithium, titanium, niobium, and sulfur as constituent elements and having a diffraction peak at a specific position in an X-ray diffractogram.

The present application describes a process for the preparation of titanium-based compounds having an anatase type structure with cationic vacancies arising from a partial substitution of oxygen atoms by fluorine atoms and hydroxyl groups. Electrochemically active materials comprising the titanium-based compounds for use in lithium-ion battery electrodes are also described.

Provided are titanium oxide fine particles capable of enhancing the photocatalytic activity of a photocatalyst when mixed with such photocatalyst. There are provided titanium oxide fine particles with at least an iron component and a silicon component solid-dissolved therein, in which the iron and silicon components are each contained in an amount of 1 to 1,000 in terms of a molar ratio to titanium (Ti/Fe or Ti/Si); and a titanium oxide fine particle dispersion liquid in which these titanium oxide fine particles are dispersed in an aqueous dispersion medium.

This disclosure provides systems, methods, apparatus, and compositions of matter related to lithium-ion batteries. In one aspect, a lithium metal oxide has a general formula Li.sub.1+x(MM).sub.1?x?yD.sub.yO.sub.2. M is a redox-active transition metal, M is a redox-inactive transition metal, and D is a metal dopant selected from a group consisting of V, Cr, Fe, and Mo. D is not M or M, and M is not M. 0<x?0.2 and 0<y?0.2. The lithium metal oxide has a cation-disordered rocksalt structure.

A method (100) for producing a sintered component being a solid electrolyte and/or an electrode including titanium and sulfur for an all-solid state battery, the method including mixing powders (102) so as to obtain a powder mixture comprising titanium and sulfur, pressing (106) a component with the powder mixture, sintering (108) the component under a partial pressure of sulfur comprised between 200 Pa and 0.2 MPa so as to obtain an intermediate sintered component comprising titanium and sulfur, and sintering (114) the intermediate sintered component under a partial pressure of sulfur equal to or smaller than 150 Pa at a temperature plateau comprised between 200? C. and 400? C. so as to obtain a sintered component comprising titanium and sulfur, the solid electrolyte exhibiting the peaks in positions of 2?=15.08? (?0.50?), 15.28? (?0.50?), 15.92? (?0.50?), 17.5? (?0.50?), 18.24? (?0.50?), 20.30? (?0.50?), 23.44? (?0.50?), 24.48? (?0.50?), and 26.66? (?0.50?) in a X-ray diffraction measurement using CuK? line.

Functionalized metal oxides nanoparticles comprising at least one alkali metal ion and nitrate ions are disclosed herein. In addition, methods for obtaining functionalized nanoparticles are disclosed. Likewise, uses of the disclosed nanoparticles in the obtaining of colloidal inks and optoelectronic films for electronic devices, for example solar cells, are disclosed. The nanoparticles taught herein are useful in the manufacture of; inter alia, electronic, optoelectronic and photovoltaic devices.

Provided is a sintered body which is a composite of an electrode active material and an oxide-based solid electrolyte. The sintered body used is characterized by containing lithium titanate having the spinel crystal structure and/or lithium titanate having the ramsdellite crystal structure, and lithium lanthanum titanate having the perovskite crystal structure. The sintered body can be obtained by, for example, a sintered body production method including a step for obtaining a molded body by molding a mixture of a precursor for lithium titanate and a precursor for lithium lanthanum titanate, or a mixture of lithium titanate and lithium lanthanum titanate, and a sintering step for sintering the molded body, or the like.

The present invention relates to a transition metal complex that exhibits high activity in the polymerization reaction of olefin monomers and improved copolymerization activity, thus enabling the preparation of a low density, high molecular weight polyolefin, a catalyst composition including the same, and a method for preparing a polyolefin using the composition.

An electrolyte is provided, which includes (a) 100 parts by weight of oxide-based solid state inorganic electrolyte, (b) 20 to 70 parts by weight of [Li(OR.sup.1).sub.n.sup.OR.sup.2]Y, wherein R.sup.1 is C.sub.1-4 alkylene group, R.sup.2 is C.sub.1-4 alkyl group, n is 2 to 100, and Y is PF.sub.6.sup., BF.sub.4.sup., AsF.sub.6.sup., SbF.sub.6.sup., ClO.sub.4.sup., AlCl.sub.4.sup., GaCl.sub.4.sup., NO.sub.3.sup., C(SO.sub.2CF.sub.3).sub.3.sup., N(SO.sub.2CF.sub.3).sub.2.sup., SCN.sup., CF.sub.3CF.sub.2SO.sub.3.sup., C.sub.6F.sub.5SO.sub.3.sup., CF.sub.3CO.sub.2.sup., SO.sub.3F.sup., B(C.sub.6H.sub.5).sub.4.sup., CF.sub.3SO.sub.3.sup., or a combination thereof, (c) 1 to 10 parts by weight of nano oxide, and (d) 1 to 20 parts by weight of binder. The electrolyte can be disposed between a positive electrode and a negative electrode to form a battery.

Disclosed herein is a method for preparing ultrafine titanium carbonitride powder under a relatively low temperature condition that obviates a grinding process. This method includes the steps of: a mixing step for contacting titanium dioxide (TiO2), calcium (Ca) and carbon (C) under an inert atmosphere, a synthesis step for reacting the resultant mixture by heating at a temperature of about 600-1500 C. or lower under a nitrogen atmosphere; and a washing step for removing calcium oxide by washing this mixture.