The present invention is directed to production of granular carbon, prepared from lignin. The process comprises the steps of providing agglomerated lignin, heating the agglomerated lignin to obtain thermally stabilized lignin and subjecting the thermally stabilized agglomerated lignin to heat treatment to obtain granular carbon.

A coating material containing an oxyfluoride of yttrium and having a Fisher diameter of 1.0 to 10 μm and a tap density TD to apparent density AD ratio, TD/AD, of 1.6 to 3.5. The coating material preferably has a pore volume of pores with a diameter of 100 μm or smaller of 1.0 cm.sup.3/g or less as measured by mercury intrusion porosimetry. A coating containing an oxyfluoride of yttrium and having a Vickers hardness of 200 HV0.01 or higher. The coating preferably has a fracture toughness of 1.0×10.sup.2 Pa.Math.m.sup.1/2 or higher.

This application discloses a negative-electrode active material and a preparation method thereof, a secondary battery, and a battery module, a battery pack, and an apparatus that include such secondary battery. The negative-electrode active material includes a core and a coating layer covering at least part of a surface of the core, where the core includes artificial graphite, the coating layer includes amorphous carbon, a volume-based particle size distribution of the negative-electrode active material satisfies D.sub.v99≤24 μm, a volume-based median particle size D.sub.v50 of the negative-electrode active material satisfies 8 μm≤D.sub.v≤15 μm, D.sub.v99 is a particle size corresponding to a cumulative volume distribution percentage of the negative-electrode active material reaching 99%, and WO is a particle size corresponding to a cumulative volume distribution percentage of the negative-electrode active material reaching 50%.

A composite material includes vanadium lithium phosphate, and a conductive carbon. an amount of the conductive carbon is 2.5 mass % or more and 7.5 mass % or less.

Proposed are an organic-inorganic composite synthetic resin using a highly flame-retardant organically modified nanoparticle, and a production method thereof. The method for producing the organic-inorganic composite synthetic resin using a highly flame-retardant organically modified nanoparticle includes the steps of: adding and stirring metal ion-based phosphinate, melamine cyanurate, and nanoclay to a container containing an aqueous or oily solvent, applying ultrasonic waves and high pressure energy to the stirred solution to prepare a highly flame-retardant organically modified silicate solution through a chemical bonding, and then adding a synthetic resin to form synthetic leather and foam used as life consumer goods to the silicate solution, processing and drying it.

A method for producing a lithium-transition metal composite oxide includes steps of preparing a first mixture including a lithium-containing compound and a transition metal compound, obtaining a compressed body by compressing the first mixture at least once, obtaining a molded body by molding at least the compressed body, and obtaining a sintered body by sintering the molded body.

The present invention relates to hollow silica particles, which each includes a shell layer containing silica and a space inside the shell layer, in which the hollow silica particles have a peak intensity derived from SiOH at a wavenumber of around 3,746 cm.sup.−1 of 0.60 or less by infrared spectroscopy, a relative permittivity at 1 GHz of from 1.3 to 5.0 and a dielectric loss tangent at 1 GHz of from 0.0001 to 0.05.

A complex oxide powder contains cerium, zirconium, and aluminum and, has a specific surface area of 0.5 m.sup.2/g or more and 10 m.sup.2/g or less.

Provided is a catalyst for manufacturing multi-wall carbon nanotubes, the catalyst including metal components according to <Equation> Ma:Mb=x:y, and having a hollow structure with a thickness of 0.5-10 μm. In the above equation, Ma represents at least two metals selected from Fe, Ni, Co, Mn, Cr, Mo, V, W, Sn, and Cu; Mb represents at least one metal selected from Mg, Al, Si, and Zr; x and y each represent the molar ratio of Ma and Mb; and x+y=10, 2.0≤x≤7.5, and 2.5≤y≤8.0.

A sparsely pillared organic-inorganic hybrid compound is provided. The sparsely pillared organic-inorganic hybrid compound includes: two inorganic material layers, each extending in one direction and facing each other; and an organic material layer disposed between the two inorganic material layers, wherein each of the inorganic material layers has a gibbsite structure in which a divalent metal cation is doped to an octahedral site, and the organic material layer includes a plurality of pillar portions, each of which is chemically bound to each of the two inorganic material layers such that the two inorganic material layers are connected to each other.