Aerogel materials, aerogel composites, and the like may be improved by the addition of opacifiers to reduce the radiative component of heat transfer. Such aerogel materials, aerogel composites, and the like may also be treated to impart or improve hydrophobicity. Such aerogel materials and methods of manufacturing the same are described.

The present disclosure, in various embodiments, discloses hydrothermal methods, hydrothermally modified materials and dried hydrothermally modified materials. Certain dried hydrothermally modified materials can readily releases ionic species such as alkali metal ions (K.sup.+, Na.sup.+), silicate salts, and alkaline earth metal ions (Mg.sup.2+, Ca.sup.2+). Some dried hydrothermally modified materials can readily release aluminum ions and/or silicon, such as in the form of soluble silicates. Such processes and materials are useful, for example in economically preparing potassium releasing fertilizers.

The present invention provides alumina particles having a fixed card-house structure formed of three or more flat plate-like alumina particles and having an average particle diameter of 3 to 1000 m. Also, there is provided alumina particles having an average particle diameter of 3 to 1000 m and having a fixed card-house structure in which the three or more flat plate-like alumina are aggregated to be crossed each other at two or more plurality of positions, and the plane directions of the flat plates crossed each other are in a state of disordered arrangement.

The present invention provides alumina particles having a fixed card-house structure formed of three or more flat plate-like alumina particles and having an average particle diameter of 3 to 1000 m. Also, there is provided alumina particles having an average particle diameter of 3 to 1000 m and having a fixed card-house structure in which the three or more flat plate-like alumina are aggregated to be crossed each other at two or more plurality of positions, and the plane directions of the flat plates crossed each other are in a state of disordered arrangement.

A method is presented for producing hollow microspheres of metal oxides (HMOMS) and/or hollow metal silicates microspheres (HMSMS) in a transforming solution. The transforming solution contains an atom M, or an M-ion, or a radical containing M. M in the transforming solution has the thermodynamic ability to replace silicon atoms in hollow silica microspheres (HSMS) and/or hollow glass microspheres (HGMS). The maximum temperature for transformation is set by the chemical physical properties of the transforming solution, and the viscosity of the silica in the walls of the HSMS and/or the glass in the walls of the HGMS. Viscosity, of enough magnitude, helps retain the desired shape of the hollow sphere as it is transformed to HMOMS and/or HMSMS. Non-spherical shapes can be produced by increasing the transformation temperature whereby the viscosity of the walls of the HSMS and/or the HGMS is reduced. Transformation can take place at a single temperature or at several temperatures, each temperature for a separate hold time.

Methods are presented for: 1. production of micro composite castings and continuous production of sheets of micro composites, both consisting of hollow spheres in a matrix, 2. harvesting of HMOMS and HMSMS, and 3. specialty castings for anisotropic properties using 3-dimensional printing

The present disclosure provides an anisotropic lamellar inorganic fiber aerogel material and a preparation method thereof. The method includes: mixing a polymer solution, an inorganic precursor and a chloride to obtain a spinning precursor solution; blow spinning the spinning precursor solution to obtain a composite fiber aerogel; calcinating the composite fiber aerogel to obtain the anisotropic lamellar inorganic fiber aerogel material. Therefore, the method has advantages of simplicity, easy operation, low cost, high efficiency and easy industrialized production. The inorganic fiber aerogel materials prepared by the above method are composed of multi-layer stacked fibers and have an anisotropic lamellar structure, which can be cut into any desired shape, and stacked to any desired thickness. In addition, the inorganic fiber aerogel materials have good flexibility and compressibility, excellent fire resistance, good high and low temperature resistance and superior thermal insulation, which greatly expands their application field.

The present disclosure provides an anisotropic lamellar inorganic fiber aerogel material and a preparation method thereof. The method includes: mixing a polymer solution, an inorganic precursor and a chloride to obtain a spinning precursor solution; blow spinning the spinning precursor solution to obtain a composite fiber aerogel; calcinating the composite fiber aerogel to obtain the anisotropic lamellar inorganic fiber aerogel material. Therefore, the method has advantages of simplicity, easy operation, low cost, high efficiency and easy industrialized production. The inorganic fiber aerogel materials prepared by the above method are composed of multi-layer stacked fibers and have an anisotropic lamellar structure, which can be cut into any desired shape, and stacked to any desired thickness. In addition, the inorganic fiber aerogel materials have good flexibility and compressibility, excellent fire resistance, good high and low temperature resistance and superior thermal insulation, which greatly expands their application field.

The present application relates to a porous material and preparation methods thereof, and anodes and devices including the same. The porous material provided by the present application includes a material of the formula Si.sub.aM.sub.bO.sub.x, wherein the ratio of x to a is about 0.6 to about 1.5, and the ratio of a to b is about 8 to about 10,000, wherein M includes at least one selected from the group consisting of Al, Si, P, Mg, Ti and Zr. The anode and an electrochemical device including the porous material exhibit higher rate performance, higher first coulombic efficiency, higher cycle stability and lower cycle expansion ratio.

Novel polyaluminum chlorosilicates (PACSi) and sodium aluminum silicate (SAS) products having improved characteristics useful in the treatment of water and wastewater as compared with polyaluminum chlorides (PAC), are provided herein, as well as new processes for their manufacture, and methods of using PACSi as coagulants and flocculants in the treatment of water and/or wastewater.

Novel polyaluminum chlorosilicates (PACSi) and sodium aluminum silicate (SAS) products having improved characteristics useful in the treatment of water and wastewater as compared with polyaluminum chlorides (PAC), are provided herein, as well as new processes for their manufacture, and methods of using PACSi as coagulants and flocculants in the treatment of water and/or wastewater.