Methods and reactors for electrochemically expanding a parent material and expanded parent materials are described. Current methods of expanding parent materials incompletely-expand parent material, requiring expensive and time-consuming separation of expanded parent material from unexpanded parent materials. This problem is addressed by the methods and reactor for electrochemically expanding a parent material described herein, which during operation maintain electrical connectivity between the parent material and an electrical power source. The resulting materials described herein have a greater proportion of expanded parent material relative to unexpanded parent material compared to those made according to others methods.

The present subject matter relates to co-producing H-CNG and CNTs. The process comprises adding catalyst to a first reactor (110) and activating the catalyst and performing a reaction to obtain H-CNG and CNTs. At a first predetermined time after reaction has progressed in the first reactor (110), catalyst is added to a second reactor (120), activated, and then the reaction proceeds simultaneously in the first reactor (110) and second reactor (120). The use of multiple reactors with staggered start times helps in the continuous co-production of H-CNG and CNTs. Catalyst preparation process is integrated with the co-production process for efficient heat recovery. The first and second reactors are fluidized bed reactors with cantilever trays having weirs for controlling the residence time of the catalyst in the reactor and thereby controlling the purity of CNTs produced.

A method of preparing iron oxide nanoparticles using an herbal mixture comprising Capparis spinosa, Cichorium intybus, Solanum nigrum, Cassia occidentalis, Terminalia arjuna, Achillea millefolium, and Tamarix gallica. The method produces crystalline γ-Fe.sub.2O.sub.3 nanoparticles which are superparamagnetic. The iron oxide nanoparticles are used in a method of killing or inhibiting the growth of a bacteria and/or fungus, particularly in the form of a biofilm. The nanoparticles are also used in a method of treating colon cancer.

A method encapsulates nanoscale material by producing a suspension of the nanostructure material in a first solvent using a micelle surrounding the nanostructure material. The micelle surrounding the suspended nanostructure material is swollen by adding to and mixing with the suspension an immiscible phase second solvent containing a precursor. The precursor is then reduced by adding a reducing reactant selectively soluble in the first solvent that reacts to the precursor containing reactant selectively solvated in the second solvent to encapsulate the nanostructure material. A metal-nanostructure composite can be provided by collecting and mixing the metal-shell encapsulated nanostructure product produced by the aforementioned method into a metal matrix.

The present invention provides a carbonaceous material suitable for a negative electrode active material for non-aqueous electrolyte secondary batteries (e.g., lithium ion secondary batteries, sodium ion secondary batteries, lithium sulfur batteries, lithium air batteries) having high charge/discharge capacities, and preferably high charge/discharge efficiency and low resistance, a negative electrode comprising the carbonaceous material, a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery comprising the negative electrode, and a production method of the carbonaceous material. The present invention relates to a carbonaceous material having a nitrogen content obtained by elemental analysis of 3.5 mass % or more, a ratio of nitrogen content and hydrogen content (R.sub.N/H) of 6 or more and 100 or less, a ratio of oxygen content and nitrogen content (R.sub.O/N) of 0.1 or more and 1.0 or less, and a carbon interplanar spacing (d.sub.002) observed by X-ray diffraction measurement of 3.70 Å or more.

Carbon nanostructure are synthesized by pyrolyzing an organic material. The carbon nanostructures are synthesized on a stainless steel substrate that is reused. After synthesizing the carbon nanostructures, the stainless steel substrate is contacted with an acid, heated, quenched and reused for synthesis of carbon nanostructures.

Described herein are methods for recovering uranium tetrafluoride (UF.sub.4) from uranium hexafluoride (UF.sub.6) by directly dissolving UF.sub.6 in ionic liquids and recovering UF.sub.4, which can be processed to obtain UO.sub.2 (s) or uranium metal.

A carbon nanotube assembled wire includes a plurality of carbon nanotubes, wherein in a Raman spectrum of the carbon nanotube assembled wire, a ratio IB/IA of an integrated intensity IA in a range of a Raman shift of 120 cm.sup.−1 or more and 210 cm.sup.−1 or less and an integrated intensity IB in a range of a Raman shift of more than 210 cm.sup.−1 and 280 cm.sup.−1 or less is 0.1 or more.

The present disclosure relates to a process for producing sheets of a composite material comprising a graphene film arranged on an amorphous carbon substrate, the process comprising the steps of: a) providing a lignin source and an aqueous solution to form a composition, b) depositing the composition on a metal surface, c) heating the composition on the metal surface to form the composite material.

A seed layer for inducing nucleation to form a layer of material is described. In an embodiment, the seed layer comprising a layer of two-dimensional monolayer amorphous material having a disordered atomic structure adapted to create localised electronic states to form electric potential wells for bonding adatoms to a surface of the seed layer via van der Waals interaction to form the layer of material, wherein each of the electric potential wells has a potential energy larger in magnitude than surrounding thermal energy to capture adatoms on the surface of the seed layer. Embodiments in relation to a method for forming the seed layer, a heterostructure comprising the seed layer, a method for forming the heterostructure comprising the seed layer, a device comprising the heterostructure and a method of enhancing vdW interaction between adatoms and a surface of the seed layer are also described.