LLNL has a patented process to produce colloidal silica directly from geothermal fluids. Livermore’s process uses membranes to produce a mono-dispense slurry of colloidal silica particles for which there are several applications. LLNL has demonstrated that colloidal silica solutions that result from extraction of silica from geothermal fluids undergo a transition to a solid gel over a range of…

The novel LLNL technique uses electric fields to drive and control assembly. In the literature such methods have heretofore only formed disordered ensembles. This innovative method increases local nanocrystal concentration, initiating nucleation and growth into ordered superlattices. Nanocrystals remain solvated and mobile throughout the process, allowing fast fabrication of ordered…