Rechargeable battery and catalyst materials and the means of production thereof

A process for producing materials for use in batteries, the process comprises the steps of;

• processing a precursor powder of a metal salt in an externally heated flash calciner in a gas medium at a first temperature to produce a porous particle material;
• wherein the first temperature is below 900° C. for a residence time of between about 10-30 seconds;
• flash calcining the processed precursor powder in a second calciner reactor segment with a second process gas to complete the calcination reaction to produce a calcined product wherein an exhaust temperature of the second calciner reactor segment is 350° C. to 400° C. for a residence time of up to 40 seconds or up to 650° C. for a residence time of about 3 seconds;
• flash quenching the calcined product in a quenching reactor segment to produce a metal oxide;
• and wherein the metal oxide is mixed with oxide powders with different particle sizes to provide a high packing density with an optimum particle-particle contact points, the mixed oxides are fused together to produce a film.