The invention provides a method of producing a filler comprising calcium carbonate (PCC), preferably to be used in paper or paper board production or in fibre based composites. The method of the invention comprises the steps of; providing fly ash generated in paper or paper board production; fractionating said fly ash in at least one step, whereby a coarser fraction is separated from a finer fraction; forming a suspension of said coarser fraction; adding carbon dioxide to said suspension to form precipitated calcium carbonate. The method of the invention avoids problems with high amounts of arsenic and heavy metals in the production of filler comprising PCC, when using ash generated in paper or paper board production as a raw material. It has been shown that harmful elements, such as arsenic and heavy metals, are primarily accumulated in the finer fractions of the fly ash. Thus, by using the coarser fraction in the step of carbonation, the amount of arsenic and heavy metals in the final product is reduced.

A positive electrode active material to be used in a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery and containing a lithium transition metal compound which contains Ni in a proportion constituting 80-94 mol %, inclusive, relative to the total mole number of the metal elements other than Li, and also contains Nb in a proportion constituting 0.1-0.6 mol %, inclusive, relative thereto, the positive electrode active material being characterized in that the Nb amount n1 in a first sample solution obtained by adding 0.2 g of the lithium transition metal compound to a hydrochloric acid aqueous solution comprising 5 mL of pure water/5 mL of 35% hydrochloric acid, and the Nb amount n2 in a second sample solution obtained by immersing a filter used to filter the first sample solution in a fluonitric acid comprising 5 mL of 46% hydrofluoric acid/5 mL of 63% nitric acid satisfy the condition of 50%?n1/(n1+n2)<75% when converted to molar quantities.

Embodiments related to electroactive compounds, their methods of manufacture, and use are described. In one embodiment, an electroactive compound may include Na(Fe.sub.aX.sub.1-a)O.sub.2. X includes at least one of Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, and a is greater than 0 and less than or equal to 0.4. In another embodiment, an electroactive compound may include Na(Mn.sub.wFe.sub.xCo.sub.yNi.sub.z)O.sub.2, where w, x, y, and z are greater than 0. Further, a sum of w, x, y, and z is equal to 1 in some cases.

This invention discloses a lithium metal oxide powder for a cathode material in a rechargeable battery, consisting of a core and a surface layer, the core having a layered crystal structure comprising the elements Li, M and oxygen, wherein M has the formula M=(Ni.sub.z(Ni.sub.1/2Mn.sub.1/2).sub.yCo.sub.x).sub.1-kA.sub.k, with 0.15x0.30, 0.20z0.55, x+y+z=1 and 0k0.1, wherein A is a dopant, wherein the Li content is stoichiometrically controlled with a molar ratio 0.95Li:M1.10; and wherein the surface layer comprises the elements Li, M and oxygen, wherein M has the formula M=(Ni.sub.z(Ni.sub.1/2Mn.sub.1/2).sub.yCo.sub.x).sub.1-kA.sub.k, with x+y+z=1 and 0k0.1, and wherein y/(y+2z)1.1*[y/(y+2z)]. The surface layer may also comprise at least 3 mol % Al, the Al content in the surface layer 10 being determined by XPS.

The present disclosure relates to a strategy to synthesize antimony- and zinc-doped tin oxide particles with tunable band gap characteristics. The methods yield stable and monodispersed particles with great control on uniformity of shape and size. The methods produce undoped and antimony and zinc-doped tin oxide stand-alone and core-shell particles, both nanoparticles and microparticles, as well as antimony and zinc-doped tin oxide shells for coating particles, including plasmonic core particles.

Systems and methods for synthesizing high-quality nanocrystals via segmented, continuous flow microwave-assisted reactor were developed.

Described are a solid material which has ionic conductivity for lithium ions, a process for preparing said solid material, a use of said solid material as a solid electrolyte for an electrochemical cell, a solid structure selected from the group consisting of a cathode, an anode and a separator for an electrochemical cell comprising the solid material, and an electrochemical cell comprising such solid structure.

The invention provides a cathode material for L1-ion batteries. The material has the formula of 0.5Li.sub.2MnO.sub.3-0.5LiM-n.sub.0.5Ni.sub.0.35Co.sub.0.15O.sub.2. The material was synthesized using the self-ignition combustion method, which previously has not been used for the preparation of Li-rich layered metal oxides. The cathode material exhibits capacities of 290, 250, and 200 mAh/g at discharge rates of C/20, C/4 and C rates, respectively. Moreover, the new material exhibits high rate cycling ability with little or no capacity fade for over 100 cycles demonstrated at a series of rates from C/20 to 2C rates for electrodes loadings of 7-8 mg/cm.sup.2.

The current technology is directed to red and red-shade violet pigments with an hexagonal ABO.sub.3 structure of the form Y(In, M)O.sub.3 in which M is substituted for In in the trigonal bipyramidal B site of the ABO.sub.3 structure, and where M is a mixture containing Co.sup.2+ and charge compensating ions, or M is a mixture containing Co.sup.2+ and charge compensating ions, as well as other aliovalent and isovalent ions.

A blended positive electrode material includes a first positive electrode active material containing a first lithium transition metal oxide and a second positive electrode active material containing a second lithium transition metal oxide, wherein the first lithium transition metal oxide and the second lithium transition metal oxide each have a nickel content of 70 mol % or greater with respect to of all metals excluding lithium, the first positive electrode active material has a greater D.sub.50 than the second positive electrode active material, and EELS analysis results for particle surfaces of both the first positive electrode active material and the second positive electrode active material satisfy Equation 1. A method for preparing the blended positive electrode material is also provided.