The present invention relates to a method for producing potassium titanate, and the present invention provides a method for producing potassium titanate which uses anatase-phased titanium dioxide to simplify the process by a hydrothermal method, and thus may improve economical efficiency and productivity, and in which the reaction temperature, the reaction time and the molar ratio of a precursor may be controlled to produce a high-purity potassium titanate whisker having a nano size of an uniform shape.

In general, the present disclosure is directed to methods for synthesizing vanadium oxide nanobelts, as well as the corresponding chemical composition of the vanadium oxide nanobelts. Also described are materials which can incorporate the vanadium oxide nanobelts, such as including the vanadium oxide nanobelts as a cathode material for use in energy storage applications (e.g., batteries). The vanadium oxide nanobelts described herein display structural characteristics that may provide improved diffusion and/or charge transfer between ions. Thus, batteries incorporating implementations of the current disclosure may demonstrate improved properties such as higher capacity retention over charge discharge cycling.

A nanomaterial ribbon patterning method includes: forming a first nanomaterial layer having a first threshold strain on an upper surface of a substrate; forming a second nanomaterial layer on an upper surface of the first nanomaterial layer; forming a thin layer having a second threshold strain smaller than the first threshold strain on an upper surface of the second nanomaterial layer; generating plural cracks on the thin layer and the second nanomaterial layer by applying tensile force to the substrate; placing a mask on an upper surface of the thin layer; removing the mask and peeling off the sacrificial layer on the upper surface of the thin layer; and removing the sacrificial layer to form a nanomaterial ribbon pattern.

A method for enhancing the efficiency of a liquid fuel is described. The method involves the addition of cobalt hydroxystannate nanoparticles to the liquid fuel to produce an enhanced liquid fuel. The cobalt hydroxystannate nanoparticles may be present at a concentration of 50-200 ppm, and may increase the calorific value of the fuel by a factor of 25-52 times.

A method for enhancing the efficiency of a liquid fuel is described. The method involves the addition of cobalt hydroxystannate nanoparticles to the liquid fuel to produce an enhanced liquid fuel. The cobalt hydroxystannate nanoparticles may be present at a concentration of 50-200 ppm, and may increase the calorific value of the fuel by a factor of 25-52 times.

Synthesizing holey graphene oxide includes dispersing graphene oxide in an aqueous solution to yield a first graphene oxide dispersion, irradiating the first graphene oxide dispersion with microwave radiation, thereby at least partially reducing the graphene oxide in the first graphene oxide dispersion to yield a second graphene oxide dispersion that includes partially reduced graphene oxide, combining the second graphene oxide dispersion with an etching agent to form a third graphene oxide dispersion, and irradiating the third graphene oxide dispersion with microwave radiation to yield a fourth graphene oxide dispersion comprising holey graphene oxide.

Provided is a process for producing prelithiated particles of an anode active material for a lithium battery. The process comprises: (a) providing a lithiating chamber having at least one inlet and at least one outlet; (b) feeding a plurality of particles of an anode active material, lithium metal particles, and an electrolyte solution (containing a lithium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent) into the lithiating chamber through at least one inlet, concurrently or sequentially, to form a reacting mixture; (c) moving this reacting mixture toward the outlet at a rate sufficient for inserting a desired amount of lithium into the anode active material particles to form a slurry of prelithiated particles dispersed in the electrolyte solution; and (d) discharging the slurry out of the lithiating chamber through the at least one outlet.

A nanostructure includes a plurality of substantially spherically curved carbon layers having diameters in a range of 1 nanometer to 1000 nanometers and a plurality of halogen atoms attached to an outer convex side of the carbon layers. A composition of matter includes a liquid fuel and an additive including at least one liquid and a plurality of carbon nano-onions. A method of fabricating an additive for liquid fuel includes creating a carbon-based material using a plasma in an environment including at least one hydrocarbon gas and/or at least one liquid containing hydrocarbons, organometallic metal-complex, and/or element-organic compounds, evaporating organic material from the carbon-based material, halogenating the carbon-based material, and extracting carbon nano-onions from the halogenated carbon-based material.

Black phosphorous (BP) flakes are nanostructured via electrochemical intercalation of Na.sup.+ ions into bundles of phosphorene nanoribbons (PNRs). The large diffusion barrier of Na.sup.+ ions along the armchair direction leads to a well-defined columnar intercalation of Na.sup.+ ions in BP, resulting in the long zigzag-oriented columns of disordered material. The sonication of the bundles is then used to separate the PNRs.

A negative electrode material for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a plurality of composite particles. Each of the plurality of composite particles includes an inorganic particle, one or more covering layers, each of which is in contact with a surface of the inorganic particle, and a carbonaceous material layer that covers the inorganic particle and has voids. The carbonaceous material layer includes a first region having a porosity of 4.3% or more and 10.0% or less, the first region being a region extending from the surface of the inorganic particle to the surface of an imaginary sphere that is centered at the center of the inorganic particle and has a radius of 3r, where r is a radius of the inorganic particle. Each of the voids is separated by one of the one or more covering layers from the surface of the inorganic particle.