Provided is a lithium titanate powder for an electrode of an energy storage device, the lithium titanate powder comprising Li.sub.4Ti.sub.5O.sub.12 as a main component, wherein, when the volume surface diameter calculated from the specific surface area determined by the BET method is represented as D.sub.BET and the crystallite diameter calculated from the half-peak width of the peak of the (111) plane of Li.sub.4Ti.sub.5O.sub.12 by the Scherrer equation is represented as D.sub.X, D.sub.BET is 0.1 to 0.6 μm, D.sub.X is greater than 80 nm, and (D.sub.BET/D.sub.X (μm/μm)) the ratio of D.sub.BET to D.sub.X is 3 or less. Also provided are an active material including the lithium titanate powder and an energy storage device using the active material.

An electrode for an energy storage device includes carbon black particles having (a) a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area ranging from 70 to 120 m.sup.2/g; (b) an oil absorption number (OAN) ranging from 180 to 310 mL/100 g; (c) a surface energy less than or equal to 15 mJ/m.sup.2; and (d) either an L.sub.a crystallite size less than or equal to 29 Å, or a primary particle size less than or equal to 24 nm.

A quantum nanomaterial having a bandgap that may be tuned to enable the quantum nanomaterial to detect IR radiation in selected regions including throughout the MWIR region and into the LWIR region is provided. The quantum nanomaterials may include tin telluride (SnTe) nanomaterials and/or lead tin telluride (Pb.sub.xSn.sub.1-xTe) nanomaterials. Additionally, a method of manufacturing nanomaterial that is tunable for detecting IR radiation in selected regions, such as throughout the MWIR region and into the LWIR region, is also provided.

A negative electrode material for a power storage device contains a single-phase porous carbon material capable of electrochemically occluding and releasing lithium ions, the single-phase porous carbon material has a BET specific surface area of not less than 100 m.sup.2/g, and a cumulative volume of pores having a pore diameter of 2 nm to 50 nm in a pore diameter distribution of the single-phase porous carbon material is not less than 25% of a total pore volume.

There is provided a polycrystalline cubic boron nitride containing a cubic boron nitride at a content greater than or equal to 98.5% by volume, the polycrystalline cubic boron nitride having a dislocation density less than or equal to 8×10.sup.15/m.sup.2.

A method of making a synthetic hectorite-type mineral is described, along with its resulting physical and rheological properties. The synthetic hectorite-type mineral is a 2:1 phyllosilicate essentially free of aluminum, and having a trioctahedral structure with Mg2+ and Li+ occupying octahedral sites. As a hydrogel, the synthetic hectorite-type mineral has a swell index of greater than 55 mL, and a yield point of greater than 290 Pa. The method of making uses a MgO/MgCO3 buffer system, with heating for about 2 hours at temperatures of no higher than 300° C. and pressures of no higher than 600 psi.

A method of producing high strength shaped alumina by feeding alumina power into an agglomerator having a shaft with mixers able to displace the alumina power along the shaft, spraying a liquid binder onto the alumina power as it is displaced along the shaft to form a shaped alumina, and calcining the shaped alumina. The shaped alumina produced having a loose bulk density of greater than or equal to 1.20 g/ml, a surface area less than 10 m.sup.2/g, impurities of less than 5 ppm of individual metals and less than 9 ppm of impurities in total, and/or crush strength of greater than 12,000 psi.

Methods for wet chemical synthesis of lithium argyrodites are provided, which in some embodiments include includes dissolving a stoichiometric mixture of precursors in a small quantity of solvent in an argon atmosphere, drying the mixture under vacuum or an inert gas atmosphere to evaporate the solvent, and then annealing to obtain a final lithium argyrodite product. Further embodiments comprise synthesizing the precursors, and excess halide doping to achieve higher ionic conductivity.

A positive electrode active material is provided, including a lithium transition metal oxide containing nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), and manganese (Mn), wherein the lithium transition metal oxide has 60 mol % or more nickel (Ni) with respect the total number of moles of transition metal except lithium, and is doped with at least any one doping element selected from the group consisting of B, Zr, Mg, Ti, Sr, W, and Al. The positive electrode active material has an average particle diameter (D.sub.50) of 4 μm to 10 μm after rolling at a rolling density of 3.0 g/cm.sup.3 to 3.3 g/cm.sup.3 and has the form of a single particle. A method of preparing the positive electrode active material, a positive electrode including the positive electrode active material, and a lithium secondary battery are also provided.

Provided is a method of manufacturing a positive electrode active material, which includes: (A) preparing a positive electrode active material precursor which includes a core portion including randomly aggregated primary particles and a shell portion surrounding the core portion and formed of primary particles oriented in a direction from a particle center to the outside and in which a ratio of a crystal grain size in the (100) plane to a crystal grain size in the (001) plane of the primary particles forming the shell portion is 3 or more; and (B) mixing the positive electrode active material precursor with a lithium-containing raw material and firing the mixture, wherein the lithium transition metal oxide has an average particle diameter (D.sub.50) that is 0.01% to 20% reduced as compared to an average particle diameter (D.sub.50) of the positive electrode active material precursor, in which a particle size is reduced during the manufacture of the positive electrode active material and thus particle strength and energy density are improved.