The present invention relates to an inorganic particulate material suitable for use in polymeric films, compositions such as polymeric films comprising the inorganic particulate materials, methods of making said compositions and the various uses of the inorganic particulate materials and compositions.

A method of treating particulate titanium dioxide includes providing the particulate titanium dioxide which includes a crystal structure and then treating the particulate titanium dioxide with a coating agent that is an alkylphosphonic acid or an ester thereof, and steam micronizing the particulate titanium dioxide with a steam micronizer so that a vapor exit temperature from the steam micronizer is 150° C. or higher, so as to obtain a micronized particulate titanium dioxide which includes the coating agent at an outer surface. The particulate titanium dioxide includes an aluminum oxide coating and/or includes within the crystal structure aluminum oxide in a molar excess of an amount required to compensate any Nb.sub.2O.sub.5 in the crystal structure. The alkylphosphonic acid includes a C.sub.6-C.sub.22 alkyl group.

A reflective particulate material includes a particulate substrate having high total solar reflectance, bulk and apparent densities and toughness, and a low dust index. The reflective particulate can have a total solar reflectance of 80% to 87%, a toughness of 1% or fewer fines, an apparent density of 2.75 g/cm.sup.3 or greater, and a dust index of 1 or lower. A method of manufacturing the reflective particulate material includes preparing a slurry of the particulate substrate, spray drying the slurry to form a spray dried particulate, crushing the spray dried particulate to form a crushed particulate, and heating/calcining the crushed particulate. The heated, crushed particulate may further be coated to form a coated roofing granule.

The invention relates to titanium oxide aerogels, in particular to titanium oxide binary or ternary (e.g. titanium oxide-carbon) aerogel monoliths possessing ordered meso- and macroporosity. The porous scaffold can be made with or without addition of binders and/or surfactants. The aerogel obtained by this method has a specific surface area greater than 60 m2/g and porosity larger than 60%. The surface area ranges from 60 to 300 m2/g. The porosity can reach as high as 99.6%. The size of the titanium oxide crystals are between 5 nm and 100 nm. The aerogel contains 100% titanium oxide. The composite (binary or ternary) aerogel can be prepared by adding at least 10% carbon in the form of (carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, carbon microfibers, exfoliated graphene, cellulose fibers, polymer fibers, metallic and metal oxide nano and microfibers etc.). The aerogel can be prepared with a predeterminable shape. It can be shaped in a mold having a shape of a cylinder, cube, sheet or sphere. The aerogel can be also transformed into a supported or self-standing film with a thickness. The material can be used as a self-cleaning filter e.g. in a solar-thermal water and air purification system, in mesoscopic solar cells e.g. dye sensitized solar cells, multifunctional filler in polymer composites, in ceramics, in metals, thermoelectric material to convert (waste) heat into electricity, heat insulation material and electrode material in lithium ion batteries and supercapacitors.

A reflective particulate material includes a particulate substrate having high total solar reflectance, bulk and apparent densities and toughness, and a low dust index. The reflective particulate can have a total solar reflectance of 80% to 87%, a toughness of 1% or fewer fines, an apparent density of 2.75 g/cm.sup.3 or greater, and a dust index of 1 or lower. A method of manufacturing the reflective particulate material includes preparing a slurry of the particulate substrate, spray drying the slurry to form a spray dried particulate, crushing the spray dried particulate to form a crushed particulate, and heating/calcining the crushed particulate. The heated, crushed particulate may further be coated to form a coated roofing granule.

The present invention relates to an inorganic particulate material suitable for use in polymeric films, compositions such as polymeric films comprising the inorganic particulate materials, methods of making said compositions and the various uses of the inorganic particulate materials and compositions.

A method of treating particulate titanium dioxide includes providing the particulate titanium dioxide which includes a crystal structure and then treating the particulate titanium dioxide with a coating agent that is an alkylphosphonic acid or an ester thereof, and steam micronizing the particulate titanium dioxide with a steam micronizer so that a vapor exit temperature from the steam micronizer is 150? C. or higher, so as to obtain a micronized particulate titanium dioxide which includes the coating agent at an outer surface. The particulate titanium dioxide includes an aluminum oxide coating and/or includes within the crystal structure aluminum oxide in a molar excess of an amount required to compensate any Nb.sub.2O.sub.5 in the crystal structure. The alkylphosphonic acid includes a C.sub.6-C.sub.22 alkyl group.

The invention relates to a method for coating the surface of inorganic solid particles in an aqueous suspension. The untreated particles, particularly TiO.sub.2 base material, are made into an aqueous suspension and subsequently disagglomerated. According to the invention, a disagglomerated suspension of untreated particles is fed (recirculated) from an intermediate vessel (vessel) in a cyclic process. The intermediate vessel contains a high-speed agitator preferably having a minimum peripheral speed of 15 m/s or a specific agitator capacity P/V of at least 30 W/m3. A pipeline mixer (e.g. inline disperser) based on the rotor/stator principle is furthermore installed in the circuit. The water-soluble precursor compounds of the coating substances, and equally any necessary pH-controlling substances, are metered into the pipeline mixer. This leads to surface coatings with greater smoothness (low specific surface area according to BET), improved density (low sulphuric-acid solubility), and less coating substance precipitated separately (improved gloss).