Methods for the deposition of thin films comprising at least preparing a solution containing at least one transition metal oxide powder in a solvent, continuously stirring said solution in order to form a sol, and using said sol in the form of said transition metal oxide film, wherein the powder is subjected to a preliminary preparation step.

A cerium-zirconium based mixed oxide composition have: (a) a Ce:Zr molar ratio of 1 or less, and (b) a cerium oxide content of 10-50% by weight. The composition has (i) a surface area of at least 18 m.sup.2/g, and a total pore volume as measured by N.sub.2 physisorption of at least 0.11 cm.sup.3/g, after ageing at 1100° C. in an air atmosphere for 6 hours, (ii) a surface area of at least 42 m.sup.2/g, and a total pore volume as measured by N.sub.2 physisorption of at least 0.31 cm.sup.3/g, after ageing at 1000° C. in an air atmosphere for 4 hours, and (iii) Dynamic Oxygen Storage Capacity (D-OSC) value as measured by H.sub.2-TIR of greater than 500 μmol/g at 600° C. after aging at 800° C. in an air atmosphere for 2 hours. A process contacts the exhaust gas with the composition Another process is for preparing the composition.

Provided are a zirconia sol having a transmittance of 45% or more at a wavelength of 400 nm, having a transmittance of 75% or more at a wavelength of 550 nm, and containing zirconia particles in an amount of 20 wt % or more, and a method for manufacturing the zirconia sol.

This disclosure describes particles and techniques for storing oligonucleotides that provide stable, long-term protection yet are also compostable. A core is coated with a layer of oligonucleotides and encapsulated under an outer layer of non-porous, hydrolyzed organosilicon disulfide. The hydrolyzed organosilicon disulfide protects the oligonucleotides from oxidative and thermal damage under typical storage conditions. One suitable organosilicon disulfide is bis(3-triethoxysilylpropyl) disulfide (BTSPD). The oligonucleotides may be retrieved by contacting the particles with a reducing agent that degrades the disulfide bonds in the outer layer. The disulfide bonds enable removal of the protective encapsulation without the use of dangerous chemicals such as hydrogen fluoride. Instead of retrieving the oligonucleotides, the particles may be disposed of in a composting environment. In an implementation, the oligonucleotides are artificially synthesized and encode digital information.

A method for synthesising metal oxide nanoparticles. The method comprises mixing, to provide a reaction mixture, a precursor solution comprising metal ions with an initiator solution to initiate a nanoparticle precipitation process, and then quenching the precipitation process by adding a quenching agent to the reaction mixture so as to yield a dispersion comprising metal oxide nanoparticles. The resulting metal oxide nanoparticles may have an average diameter of less than 7 nm, for example 5 nm or less.

Provided is a method for the preparation of a porous hollow shell WO.sub.3/WS.sub.2 nanomaterial, comprising: (1) adding a hexavalent tungsten salt to a sol A comprising mesocarbon microbeads, and stirring to obtain a sol B; (2) drying and grinding the sol B, and then heating a resulting powder at 200-500° C. for 0.5-2 hours to obtain a porous hollow shell WO.sub.3 nanocrystalline material; (3) placing the porous hollow shell WO.sub.3 nanocrystalline material obtained by Step 2 and a sulfur powder separately in a vacuum furnace, controlling such that a degree of vacuum is −0.01 to −0.1 MPa and a temperature is 200-500° C., and reacting for 0.5-3 hours to obtain a WO.sub.3/WS.sub.2 porous hollow shell nanocrystalline material. Also provided is a porous hollow shell WO.sub.3/WS.sub.2 nanocrystalline material obtained by the method.

The present invention pertains to a method for producing a colloidal suspension of zirconia particles, comprising the following successive steps: a) subjecting a mixture of zirconium oxychloride and an alkali metal halide in an aqueous solvent to hydrothermal treatment at a temperature above 150° C., so as to obtain a suspension in the form of a two-phase mixture comprising a slurry and a supernatant, b) without first peptizing it, desalting said suspension so as to form a colloidal suspension of zirconia.

An aqueous solution of alkali hexahydroxo platinate is produced. As a alkali hexahydroxo platinate, sodium hexahydroxoplatinate or potassium hexahydroxoplatinate is used. The aqueous solution of alkali hexahydroxo platinate is passed through a hydrogen form cation exchange resin layer in a cation exchange resin tower. The aqueous solution of alkali hexahydroxo platinate makes contact with the hydrogen form cation exchange resin of the hydrogen form cation exchange resin layer, thus a suspension of hexahydroxo platinic is generated. If gamma rays are irradiated to the suspension, a platinum oxide colloidal solution in which colloidal particles including a platinum dioxide, a platinum monoxide, and a platinum hydroxide exist is generated. In a platinum oxide colloidal solution, the content of impurities is little and a noble metal compound is dispersed stably in water.

A method of stabilizing electromagnetically charged particles, which includes coating electromagnetically charged particles with a protective layer; and etching the protective layer to produce a porous protective layer on the electromagnetically charged.

Provided is an inorganic oxide dispersion (sol) in which inorganic oxide particles are dispersed in silicone oil.