Nanoparticles including inorganic oxide particles and having good dispersibility, a dispersion of nanoparticles including said nanoparticles, and a production method of said nanoparticles are provided. Surfaces of inorganic oxide particles is functionalized with a functionalizing agent including niobium compound having a specific structure and a silane compound having a specific structure. The inorganic oxide particles are preferably titanium oxide particles or zirconium oxide particles. Average primary particle size of the nanoparticles measured by X-ray diffraction method is preferably 3 nm or more and 20 nm or less.

Provided are titanium oxide fine particles which are excellent in transparency and are less photocatalytically active while maintaining a high refractive index, a dispersion of such fine particles, and a method for producing such a dispersion. The method for producing a dispersion of iron-containing rutile titanium oxide fine particles including a step (1) of neutralizing an aqueous metal mineral acid salt solution containing Ti and Fe in Fe.sub.2O.sub.3/(TiO.sub.2+Fe.sub.2O.sub.3)=0.001 to 0.010 to form an iron-containing hydrous titanic acid; a step (2) of adding an aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution to form an aqueous solution of iron-containing peroxotitanic acid having an average particle size of 15 to 50 nm; a step (3) of adding a tin compound so as to satisfy TiO.sub.2/SnO.sub.2=6 to 16; a step (4) of adding a sol of silica-based fine particles which contain Si and a metal element M in SiO.sub.2/MO.sub.x/2=99.9/0.1 to 80/20, the addition being made so as to satisfy SiO.sub.2/(oxides of the other elements)=0.08 to 0.22; and a step (5) of hydrothermally treating the solution obtained in the step (4).

Nanostructured aluminosilicates including aluminosilicate nanorods are formed by heating a geopolymer resin containing up to about 90 mol % water in a closed container at a temperature between about 70° C. and about 200° C. for a length of time up to about one week to yield a first material including the aluminosilicate nanorods. The aluminosilicate nanorods have an average width of the between about 5 nm and about 30 or between about 5 nm and about 60 nm or between about 5 nm and about 100 nm, and a majority of the aluminosilicate nanorods have an aspect ratio between about 2 and about 100.

A negative electrode active material for a secondary battery includes a silicate composite particle. The silicate composite particle contains silicate phases, silicon particles dispersed in the silicate phases, and a carbon phase. The silicate phases contain at least one selected from the group consisting of an alkali metal and an alkaline earth metal. At least parts of the carbon phase coat at least parts of surfaces of the silicon particles.

The present invention relates to a method for producing boron nitride nanostructures, the method comprising subjecting boron nitride precursor material to lamp ablation within an adiabatic radiative shielding environment. The nanostructures produced may include nano-onion structures. The boron nitride precursor material subjected to lamp ablation may include amorphous boron nitride, hexagonal boron nitride, cubic boron nitride, wurtzite boron nitride or a combination of two or more thereof.

A sulfur-containing compound containing a lithium (Li) element, a phosphorus (P) element, a sulfur (S) element, and a halogen (X) element, which can be suitably used as a solid electrolyte, and is able to suppress the generation of a hydrogen sulfide gas even when exposed to moisture in the atmosphere. The sulfur-containing compound has a peak at each position of 2θ=21.3°±1.0°, 27.8°±1.0°, and 30.8°±0.5° in an X-ray diffraction pattern measured by an X-ray diffraction apparatus (XRD) using CuKα1 rays.

This invention has an object to provide a means for providing a calcium phosphate sintered body particle group that does not cause a phenomenon of bubble generation in any use mode thereof, and further has a smaller particle diameter. There is provided a ceramic particle group containing spherical ceramic particles, which is characterized in that the ceramic particle has a particle diameter within a range of 10 nm to 700 nm, and is a calcium phosphate sintered body particle, and further the ceramic particle group contains no calcium carbonate.

A thermoelectric conversion material having a high dimensionless figure of merit ZT includes: a large number of polycrystalline grains which include a skutterudite-type crystal structure containing Yb, Co, and Sb; and an intergranular layer which is between the neighboring polycrystalline grains and includes crystals in which an atomic ratio of O to Yb is more than 0.4 and less than 1.5. A method for manufacturing a thermoelectric conversion material includes: a weighing step; a mixing step; a ribbon preparation step by rapidly cooling and solidifying a melt of the raw materials by using a rapid liquid cooling solidifying method; a first heat treatment step including heat treating in an inert atmosphere with an adjusted oxygen concentration; a second heat treatment step including heat treating in a reducing atmosphere; and manufacturing the thermoelectric conversion material by a pressure sintering step in an inert atmosphere.

Provided is a composite metal oxide which is represented by Formula (1) and has an α-NaFeO.sub.2 type crystal structure, in which a peak half value width of a (104) plane to be measured by powder X-ray diffraction is 0.250° or less at 2θ.
Na.sub.xM.sup.1.sub.r(Fe.sub.yNi.sub.zMn.sub.wM.sub.1−y−z−w)O.sub.2±δ  (1) (in Formula (1), M represents any one or more elements selected from the group consisting of B, Si, V, Ti, Co, Mo, Pd, Re, Pb, and Bi, M.sup.1 represents any one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Mg and Ca, and relations 0≤r≤0.1, 0.5≤x≤1.0, 0.1≤y≤0.5, 0<z<0.4, 0<w<0.4, 0≤δ≤0.05, and y+z+w≤1 are satisfied).

A positive electrode active material for a rechargeable lithium battery, and a rechargeable lithium battery including the same are provided. The positive electrode active material includes a lithium nickel-based composite oxide wherein the positive electrode active material is in a form of secondary particles in which a plurality of primary particles are aggregated and at least a portion of the primary particles are radially arranged, in a cross-section of the secondary particles, a number ratio of the primary particles having a cross-sectional area of less than about 0.1 .Math.m.sup.2 is greater than or equal to about 65%, and a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the peak corresponding to the (003) plane in the X-ray diffraction analysis for the positive electrode active material is less than or equal to about 0.125.