Provided is a composite anode active material including: a carbonaceous material; a metal alloyable with lithium, located on a surface of the carbonaceous material; and a silicon coating layer located on a surface of the carbonaceous material, on a surface of the metal alloyable with lithium, or a combination thereof.

In an aspect, a multiphase ferrite comprises a Co.sub.2W phase that is optionally doped with Ru; a CFO phase having the formula Me.sub.r“Co.sub.1−rFe.sub.2+zO.sub.4, wherein Me” is at least one of Ni, Zn, or Mg, r is 0 to 0.5, and z is −0.5 to 6 0.5; and a CoRu-BaM phase having the formula BaCo.sub.x+yRu.sub.yFe.sub.12−(2/3)x−2yO.sub.19, wherein x is 0 to 2, y is 0.01 to 2; and the Ba can be partially replaced by at least one of Sr or Ca. In another aspect, a composite can comprise a polymer and the multiphase ferrite. In yet another aspect, a method of making a multiphase ferrite can comprise mixing and grinding a CoRu-BaM phase ferrite and a CFO phase ferrite to form a mixture; and sintering the mixture in an oxygen atmosphere to form the multiphase ferrite.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a composite pigment which can be dispersed and made into paint in a manner that saves labor compared with conventional flat emulsion paints, and which can achieve concealing properties and low glossiness (a luster reduction effect) without separately adding a matting agent. This composite pigment contains an inorganic compound and/or an organic compound, and a fixed extender pigment.

The present invention discloses a graphene/porous iron oxide nanorod composite and a method for preparing the same. The composite includes graphene and Fe.sub.2O.sub.3 nanoparticles loaded on the graphene. The Fe.sub.2O.sub.3 nanoparticles have a honeycomb porous structure. The synthesis method of the composite is simple and the raw materials are inexpensive.

Provided is a method for producing a positive electrode active material for nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries, including: a water-washing step of mixing, with water, Li—Ni composite oxide particles represented by the formula: Li.sub.zNi.sub.1-x-yCo.sub.xM.sub.yO.sub.2 and composed of primary particles and secondary particles formed by aggregation of the primary particles to water-wash it, and performing solid-liquid separation to obtain a washed cake; a mixing step of mixing a W compound powder free from Li with the washed cake to obtain a W-containing mixture; and a heat treatment step of heating the W-containing mixture, the heat treatment step including: a first heat treatment step of heating the W-containing mixture to disperse W on the surface of the primary particles; and subsequently, a second heat treatment step of heating it at a higher temperature than in the first heat treatment step to form a lithium tungstate compound on the surface of the primary particles.

The present invention makes a lithium ion secondary cell exhibit high capacity when lithium manganese phosphate is used as the active material of the lithium ion secondary cell. The present invention is directed to lithium manganese phosphate nanoparticles having a ratio I.sub.20/I.sub.29 of the peak intensity at 20° to the peak intensity at 29° obtained by X-ray diffraction of greater than or equal to 0.88 and less than or equal to 1.05, and a crystallite size determined by X-ray diffraction of greater than or equal to 10 nm and less than or equal to 50 nm.

A dispersion liquid contains fine particles of core-shell type inorganic oxide that have high dispersion stability and transparency and allow for excellent light resistance and weather resistance by being mixed in a coating film. The fine particles are produced by treating the surfaces of (a) fine particles of titanium-containing metal oxide serving as core particles with a hydrate and/or an oxide of a metal element such as zirconium to provide surface-treated particles or fine particles of titanium-containing metal oxide having (b) an intermediate layer and by covering the surfaces of the surface-treated particles to form (c) a shell layer with a composite oxide of silicon and at least one metal element selected from aluminum, zirconium, and antimony.

A method for fabricating a composite material includes forming an emulsion mixture of active material particles and graphene emulsion droplets containing immiscible first and second solvents and a solid-state emulsifier of graphene, wherein the first and second solvents are adapted such that the second solvent resides in an interior of the graphene emulsion droplets with the first solvent as an exterior solvent, and the active material particles reside in the interior of the emulsion droplets; wherein a boiling point of the second solvent is lower than that of the first solvent; and drying the emulsion mixture with subsequent evaporation of the second solvent and the first solvent through fractional distillation to form the composite material having each surface of the active material particles conformally coated with said graphene.

Provided is a method for the preparation of a porous hollow shell WO.sub.3/WS.sub.2 nanomaterial, comprising: (1) adding a hexavalent tungsten salt to a sol A comprising mesocarbon microbeads, and stirring to obtain a sol B; (2) drying and grinding the sol B, and then heating a resulting powder at 200-500° C. for 0.5-2 hours to obtain a porous hollow shell WO.sub.3 nanocrystalline material; (3) placing the porous hollow shell WO.sub.3 nanocrystalline material obtained by Step 2 and a sulfur powder separately in a vacuum furnace, controlling such that a degree of vacuum is −0.01 to −0.1 MPa and a temperature is 200-500° C., and reacting for 0.5-3 hours to obtain a WO.sub.3/WS.sub.2 porous hollow shell nanocrystalline material. Also provided is a porous hollow shell WO.sub.3/WS.sub.2 nanocrystalline material obtained by the method.

The invention relates to active electrode materials and to methods for the manufacture of active electrode materials. Such materials are of interest as active electrode materials in lithium-ion or sodium-ion batteries. The invention provides an active electrode material expressed by the general formula M1.sub.aM2.sub.2-aM3.sub.bNb.sub.34-bO.sub.87-c-dQ.sub.d.