Composites of silicon and various porous scaffold materials, such as carbon material comprising micro-, meso- and/or macropores, and methods for manufacturing the same are provided. The compositions find utility in various applications, including electrical energy storage electrodes and devices comprising the same.

Gadolinium-doped cerium oxide slurries used to form a patchwork type surface structure with nanoporous grain boundary prepared by mixing gadolinium-doped cerium oxide and a polymer binder to form a first mixture; wet-atomizing the first mixture under a pressure of at least 100 MPa to obtain a second mixture; coating the second mixture to a substrate to form a coated substrate; and sintering the coated substrate. The patchwork type structure is a polygonal or honeycomb structure having a size of from 0.1 m to 3 m.

Provided is a lithium complex oxide sintered plate for use in a positive electrode of a lithium secondary battery. The lithium complex oxide sintered plate has a structure in which a plurality of primary grains having a layered rock-salt structure are bonded, and has a porosity of 3 to 40%, a mean pore diameter of 15 m or less, an open porosity of 70% or more, and a thickness of 15 to 200 m. The plurality of primary grains has a primary grain diameter, i.e., a mean diameter of the primary grains, of 20 m or less and a mean tilt angle of more than 0 to 30 or less. The mean tilt angle is a mean value of the angles defined by the (003) planes of the primary grains and the plate face of the lithium complex oxide sintered plate.

A method includes the following steps: a) the production of a slip including more than 4% and less than 50% of ceramic particles and including: b) a first particulate fraction including of orientable particles having a median length L50 and representing more than 1% of the ceramic particles, and c) a second particulate fraction having a median length D50 at least ten times shorter than L50 and representing more than 1% of the ceramic particles, the first and second particulate fractions together representing more than 80% of all of the ceramic particles, in volume percentages based on the total quantity of ceramic particles; d) oriented freezing of the slip by moving a solidification front at a lower speed than the speed of encapsulation of the ceramic particles; e) elimination of the crystals of the solidified liquid phase of the block; and f) optionally sintering.

Disclosed herein are polymer derived ceramics and methods of making the same. The ceramics may be obtained by first thermolyzing a composition including a pre-ceramic polymer and metal salt, and further subjecting the thermolysis step to a pyrolysis step.

This invention relates to the field of thermal insulation. In particular, the invention describes superinsulation articles having a desired porosity, reduced pore size and cost-effective methods for manufacturing such articles. In one aspect of the present invention, the article may comprise a material system with at least about 20% porosity. In a further aspect of the invention, an article may comprise greater than about 25% of nanopores having a pore size no greater than about 1500 nanometers in its shortest axis.

The present invention is concerned with methods for the deposition of ceramic films on ceramic or metallic surfaces, particularly the deposition of sub-micron thickness ceramic films such as films of stabilised zirconia and doped ceria such as CGO (cerium gadolinium oxide). The present invention is particularly useful in the manufacture of high and intermediate temperature operating fuel cells including solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and also metal supported intermediate temperature SOFC operating in the 450-650 C. range.

Product formed from a ceramic material, at least part of the said product not being formed from amorphous silica and including pores and satisfying the following criteria (a), (b) and (c): (a) at least 70% by number of the said pores are frustoconical tubular pores extending substantially parallel to each other in a longitudinal direction; (b) in at least one cross-section plane, the mean size of the cross sections of the said pores is greater than 0.15 m and less than 300 m; (c) in at least one cross-section plane, at least 50% by number of the pores have a convexity index Ic of greater than 87%, the convexity index of a pore being equal to the ratio Sp/Sc of the surfaces Sp and Sc delimited by the perimeter and by the convex envelope of the said pore, respectively.

Disclosed is a highly dense aggregate of brittle material particles having an interface at which the particles are bonded to each other and pores between the brittle material particles structuring the highly dense aggregate, where a porosity which is a volume ratio of the pores with respect to the whole of the highly dense aggregate is equal to or less than 20%, and a volume ratio of the pores communicating with an apparent outer surface of the highly dense aggregate with respect to a volume of all of the pores of the highly dense aggregate is equal to or higher than 65%.

An agglomeration with fine particles of a hybrid material comprising carbon nanotubes (CNT) and a binder agent that is effective to create an agglomeration comprising the fine particles.