The present disclosure relates to a green method for producing and exploiting multiple nano-carbon polymorphs from coal commonly known as anthracite, meta-anthracite, and semi-graphite. The method disrupts the prevalent environmentally unfriendly practices of burning coal with poor profitability and sustainability because the method yields an unexpectedly rich mixture of high-performance nano-materials, comprising carbon nano-fibers, carbon nano-tubes, carbon nano-onions, nano-graphite-plates, and nano-graphene-disks, by simply mechanically-comminuting coal to nano-size, with minimal sorting efforts. The resulting total-yield of nano-carbon polymorphs is over 50% by weight from properly selected coal. Innovative means are added to the prevalent comminution and sorting practices to further reduce energy and chemical consumption. More importantly, the method also refines the comminution and sorting details for producing the best custom-made formulations. This holistic engineering approach eliminates unnecessary separation and sorting steps because a custom-made formulation typically requires blending the sorted components. Formulations with mixed nano-carbon polymorphs are engineered as new and high-valued-added composite ingredients to critically raise the performance of cement-based, polymer-based, and metal-based composites.

Methods of producing functionalized carbon nanosheets capable of use as electrode materials in electrochemical energy storage cells, electrodes and electrode materials formed thereby, and electrochemical energy storage cells of sodium-ion batteries that utilize such electrodes and electrode materials. Such a method of producing functionalized carbon nanosheets includes preparing a solution containing dissolved glucose, mixing a quantity of NaCl crystals with the solution to form a mixture, drying the mixture to form a gel comprising NaCl crystals each having a layer of glucose thereon, heating the gel in an inert atmosphere to a processing temperature and for a duration sufficient to cause carbonization of the glucose and in situ functionalization with oxygen-containing functional groups, and removing the NaCl crystals to yield the functionalized carbon nanosheets.

Disk shaped fine carbon particles. A fine carbon particle having a diameter of less than 3 microns and a height of less than 0.05 micron substantially in disk form are described. Admixtures with other fine particles are also described.

An apparatus is disclosed for producing flakes, the apparatus comprising: a) a support structure for supporting each of two supply cylinders, made of a first material from which flakes are to be produced, and a fatiguing rod assembly including at least one fatiguing rod made of a second material, each fatiguing rod having a diameter smaller than an initial diameter of the two supply cylinders; b) a compression mechanism for urging the surfaces of the two supply cylinders into contact with each fatiguing rod, and c) a drive mechanism for causing the supply cylinders to rotate while making rolling line contact with each fatiguing rod.

The contact pressure between the supply cylinders and each fatiguing rod is set sufficiently high to modify the surface of the supply cylinders by fatigue and result in separation of flakes of the first material from the surfaces of the supply cylinders.

The present invention is directed to a chromatic effect light reflective unit (1; 1a-1g). The unit (1; 1a-1g) comprises a reflective layer (10) having at least one reflective surface (11), and a chromatic diffusion layer (20) having a first surface (21) proximal to the reflective surface (11) and a second surface (23), opposite and substantially parallel to the first, configured to be illuminated by incident light, wherein the chromatic diffusion layer (20) comprises a nano-pillar (70) or nano-pore (30) structure in a first material having a first refractive index (n1), immersed in a second material having a second refractive index (n2) other than the first (n1), in which the first and second materials are substantially non-absorbing or transparent to electromagnetic radiations with wavelength included in the visible spectrum, wherein the ratio (n.sub.M/n.sub.m) between a higher refractive index (n.sub.M) and a lower refractive index (n.sub.M) chosen between the first (n1) and the second (n2) refractive indexes is comprised between 1.05 and 3, wherein the nano- pillars (71) or nano-pores (31) have a development along a main direction not parallel to the first surface (21) and the second surface (23) of the chromatic diffusion layer and the nano- pillars (70) or nano-pores (30) structure is characterized by a plurality of geometric parameters comprising a pillar diameter or pore diameter (d.sub.p), a pillar length or pore length (1.sub.p) along said main development direction, and a surface density of nano-pillars or nano-pores (D.sub.p) and/or a structure (30,70) porosity (P.sub.p) and wherein the pillar diameter or pore diameter (d.sub.p) is comprised between 40 nm and 300 nm, the length (l.sub.p) along the main development direction is comprised between 300 nm and 40 .Math.m (300 nm < l.sub.p < 40 .Math.m) and at least one between the surface density of nano-pillars or nano-pores (D.sub.p) and the structure (30,70) porosity (P.sub.p) is configured to provide a higher regular reflectance for wavelengths of incident light comprised in the range of red with respect to wavelengths of incident light comprised in the range of blue and a higher diffuse reflectance for wavelengths of incident light comprised in the range of blue than wavelengths of incident light comprised in the range of red.

A sheet molding compound (SMC) is provided with superior conductivity properties based on the use of graphitics. A process for exfoliation of GnP and turbostratic carbon is also provided. By exfoliating the graphitics, a reduced amount of material can confer comparable properties relative to native GnPs or turbostratic carbon thereby reducing the amount of material usage, but also reducing negative effects to the base resin formulation through inclusion of these additives. Particular utility is found in thermoset resin molding to produce articles that are amenable to electrostatic coating and other surface treatments that rely on surface conductivity and especially in the realm of vehicle body parts.

A composition suitable for coating a metallic substrate that is susceptible to corrosion is disclosed. The composition comprises a carrier medium and graphene platelets in which the graphene platelets comprise between 0.002 wt % and 0.09 wt % of the coating, and the graphene platelets comprise one of or a mixture of two or more of graphene nanoplates, bilayer graphene nanoplates, few-layer graphene nanoplates, and/or graphite flakes in which the graphite flakes have one nanoscale dimension and 25 or less layers.

A method for preparing a size-changeable metal oxide two-dimensional material nanosheet is provided. The method includes the following steps: weighing a first original oxide mixture according to a ratio, grinding the first original oxide mixture, performing thermogravimetric analysis on the first original oxide mixture after the grinding to obtain a thermogravimetric curve, and designing a first-stage sintering temperature and a second-stage sintering temperature according to the thermogravimetric curve; preparing a second original oxide mixture with a weight of no more than one kilogram (kg) according to the ratio, and placing the second original oxide mixture into a heating device and performing heating at the first-stage sintering temperature and the second-stage sintering temperature, to obtain a metal oxide original layered material; and performing a protonophoric action and an organic base stripping on the metal oxide original layered material, to obtain the metal oxide two-dimensional material nanosheet.

A conductive composite material of graphene contains graphene nano-sheets and conjugated copolymers. The conjugated copolymers has alkynyl groups and are in a linear structure and grafted to the graphene nano-sheets. The preparation of conductive composite material includes the steps of: pretreating the graphene nano-sheets with 4-bromobenzenediazonium tetrafluoroborate, and forming the conjugated copolymers in the presence of the pretreated graphene nano-sheets. The conductive composite material of graphene can be uniformly dispersed in an electrode slurry, reduce the internal resistance of an electrode, and improve the electrical conductivity of an electrode. At the same time, the flexible structure associated with the graphene nano-sheets can buffer the volume expansion of the silicon-containing negative materials during charge-discharge cycling. Such a composite material can be in a lithium-ion battery.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally describe scintillation materials, including colloidal scintillation materials and solid scintillation materials, methods of preparing the scintillation materials, applications of the scintillation materials, methods of using the scintillation materials, and the like.