Abstract: Water plasma is generated from steam, wherein one portion of the steam serves as plasma fuel and wherein another portion of the stream stabilizes the plasma jet in a vortex that is formed in a vortex generator. Most preferably, the vortex momentum is generated at least in part outside the plasma generation chamber and then transferred into the chamber at two locations with two distinct vortex velocities. Contemplated configurations allow significantly extended operation times at remarkably reduced power consumption and produce a stabilized high-temperature plasma jet suitable for welding and/or cutting.

Abstract: A condensation enhancer has a carrier to which carbonaceous nanostructured material is coupled such that a compound in gas phase contacting the enhancer condenses at a temperature that is higher than a condensation temperature of the compound on the condensation enhancer without the nanostructured material.

Abstract: Compositions and methods for materials with substantially white anti-stokes fluorescence are presented. In especially preferred aspects, such materials are employed in safety marks to help protect and/or validate authenticity. Remarkably, while contemplated materials have an apparent white fluorescence from batch to batch, spectral footprints of such materials are irreproducible among batches. Therefore, contemplated materials will lend themselves as particularly valuable tools for authentication as the materials per se are uniquely distinct among distinct batches of manufacture.

Abstract: Contemplated remediation devices include a substantially completely hydrophobic, non-porous, and carbonaceous, and most preferably nanostructured material enclosed in a retaining structure. In further preferred aspects, the material inside the retaining structure adsorbs a contaminant from a medium located outside the retaining structure. Especially preferred nanostructured materials comprise graphene, while preferred contaminants include optionally substituted hydrocarbons, organic solvents, and acids.

Abstract: Non-porous carbonaceous and nanostructured adsorbent materials are regenerated using mechanical force or electromagnetic energy such that adsorption capacity is restored to at least 70-90%, and higher. Surprisingly, and in stark contrast to activated charcoal, the inventors discovered that the contaminant can be expelled from the non-porous material using simple pressure or centrifugation, even if the adsorbed material is present in a 20-fold and even higher amount relative to the weight of the adsorbent materials. In further aspects of the inventive subject matter, the adsorbed compound can also be destroyed by ballistic electrons emitted from the non-porous carbonaceous and nanostructured adsorbent material using microwave irradiation.

Abstract: A device includes a non-porous carbonaceous and nanostructured material other than a carbon nanotube, wherein the smallest dimension of the material is less than 100 nm. In most preferred devices, the carbonaceous material comprises graphene that is retained by a second material, wherein the device is configured as a filter for a gas and/or a liquid.

Abstract: Non-porous carbon materials that are materials other than a fullerene or a nanotube are employed for medical use, wherein the carbon material has a smallest dimension of less than 100 nanometer. In preferred aspects, the material is topically used on a wounds, orally administered as sorbent for various toxins, or employed as a sorbent in hemodialysis.

Abstract: Nanostructured carbonaceous material is employed to bind and/or remove a contaminant from a medium, wherein the smallest dimension of the carbonaceous material is less than 500 nm, and wherein the material is present in an amount of at least 10 wt %. Particularly preferred carbonaceous material includes graphene.

Abstract: A graphene-containing composition is employed to bind a contaminant, which is then destroyed in situ using microwave irradiation. In preferred aspects of the inventive subject matter, the microwave irradiation has a frequency and energy sufficient to cause electron emission from the graphene.

Abstract: Carbon nanostructures are mass produced from graphite. In particularly preferred aspects, graphene is thermo-chemically derived from graphite and used in numerous compositions. In further preferred aspects, the graphene is re-shaped to form other nanostructures, including nanofractals, optionally branched open-ended SWNT, nanoloops, and nanoonions.

Abstract: Volatile organic compounds are removed from a liquid and destroyed using a device in which an air stripper having alternating phases of hydrophilic and hydrophobic packing materials promotes transition of the VOC from the liquid phase into the gas phase, and wherein the is oxidized VOC in the gas phase on a hydrophobic carbon nanostructure that further comprises a catalytically active metal.