To provide an oxide semiconductor with a novel structure. Such an oxide semiconductor is composed of an aggregation of a plurality of InGaZnO.sub.4 crystals each of which is larger than or equal to 1 nm and smaller than or equal to 3 nm, and in the oxide semiconductor, the plurality of InGaZnO.sub.4 crystals have no orientation. Alternatively, such an oxide semiconductor is such that a diffraction pattern like a halo pattern is observed by electron diffraction measurement performed by using an electron beam with a probe diameter larger than or equal to 300 nm, and that a diffraction pattern having a plurality of spots arranged circularly is observed by electron diffraction measurement performed by using an electron beam with a probe diameter larger than or equal to 1 nm and smaller than or equal to 30 nm.

The present invention provides a semiconductor crystal comprising a semiconductor material having a tuned band gap energy, and methods for preparation thereof. More particularly, the invention provides a semiconductor crystal comprising a semiconductor material and amino acid molecules, peptides, or a combination thereof, incorporated within the crystal lattice, wherein the amino acid molecules, peptides, or combination thereof tune the band gap energy of the semiconductor material.

The present invention provides an electrode material for an electrochemical capacitor having high surface utilization efficiency, composed of a porous carbon material capable of further contributing to higher electrostatic capacitance of the electrochemical capacitor and to development of high rate characteristics; the porous carbon material having a co-continuous structural portion in which a carbon skeleton and voids form respective continuous structures, the co-continuous structural portion having a structural period of 0.002 μm to 20 μm.

According to one embodiment, there is provided an active material that includes a composite oxide having a crystal structure belonging to a space group Fmmm. The composite oxide is represented by the formula: Li.sub.2+xNa.sub.2-yM.sub.zTi.sub.6O.sub.14+δ. Herein, M includes at least one of Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba. x is within a range of 0≦x≦6. y is within a range of 0<y<2. z is within a range of 0<z<1. δ is within a range of −0.5≦δ≦0.5. Further, y is greater than z.

According to one embodiment, an active material is provided. The active material includes a composite oxide including yttrium atoms in an orthorhombic crystal structure thereof. Also included in the orthorhombic crystal structure of the composite oxide is at least one selected from the group consisting of alkali metal atoms and alkaline earth metal atoms. Among crystal sites represented by Wyckoff notations in the orthorhombic crystal structure, an occupancy of crystal sites that can be occupied by the alkali metal atoms or by the alkaline earth metal atoms is less than 100%.

A negative electrode material for a power storage device contains a single-phase porous carbon material capable of electrochemically occluding and releasing lithium ions, the single-phase porous carbon material has a BET specific surface area of not less than 100 m.sup.2/g, and a cumulative volume of pores having a pore diameter of 2 nm to 50 nm in a pore diameter distribution of the single-phase porous carbon material is not less than 25% of a total pore volume.

Provided are a positive electrode active material with which a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery having a high energy density can be obtained, a nickel-manganese composite hydroxide suitable as a precursor of the positive electrode active material, and production methods capable of easily producing these in an industrial scale. Provided is a nickel-manganese composite hydroxide represented by General Formula (1): Ni.sub.xMn.sub.yM.sub.z(OH).sub.2+α and containing a secondary particle formed of a plurality of flocculated primary particles. The nickel-manganese composite hydroxide has a half width of a diffraction peak of a (001) plane obtained by X-ray diffraction measurement of at least 0.10° and up to 0.40° and has a degree of sparsity/density represented by [(void area within secondary particle/cross section of secondary particle)×100](%) of at least 0.5% and up to 10%. Also provided is a production method of the nickel-manganese composite hydroxide.

Provided is a piezoelectric film formed by a vapor phase growth method, the piezoelectric film containing:

a perovskite oxide in which a perovskite oxide represented by the following formula P is doped with Si in an amount of from 0.2 mol % to less than 0.5 mol %, wherein a ratio of a peak intensity of a pyrochlore phase to a sum of peak intensities in respective plane orientations of (100), (001), (110), (101) and (111) of a perovskite phase measured by an X-ray diffraction method is 0.25 or less:

A.sub.1+δ[(Zr.sub.xTi.sub.1−a).sub.1−aNb.sub.a]O.sub.y  Formula P

wherein, in formula P, A is an A-site element primarily containing Pb; Zr, Ti, and Nb are B-site elements; x is more than 0 but less than 1; a is 0.1 or more but less than 0.3.

Disclosed herein is a new crystalline molecular sieve designated SSZ-106, its synthesis in the presence of a structure directing agent comprising 2,3-bis(N-methylpyrrolidin-1-ylmethyl)bicyclo[2.2.1]heptane dication, and its use as an adsorbent and a catalyst.

It is an object to achieve a resin sheet having high thermal conductance and high dielectric strength. Hexagonal boron nitride powder in accordance with an aspect of the present invention includes hexagonal boron nitride agglomerate particles each including agglomerated hexagonal boron nitride primary particles, and has a specific surface area of not less than 0.5 m.sup.2/g and not more than 5.0 m.sup.2/g. The hexagonal boron nitride primary particles each have a long diameter of not less than 0.6 μm and not more than 4.0 μm and an aspect ratio of not less than 1.5 and not more than 5.0.