A fuel cell with high productivity, high power generation performance and high durability is described, along with a gas diffusion electrode base material having a microporous layer on one side of an electrically conductive porous base material, where the electrically conductive porous base material contains carbon fiber and resin carbide and has a density of 0.25 to 0.39 g/cm.sup.3 and a pore mode diameter in a range of 30 to 50 μm. The microporous layer contains a carbonaceous powder and a fluororesin and has a surface roughness of 2.0 to 6.0 μm, a porosity of 50 to 95%, and a pore mode diameter of 0.050 to 0.100 μm.

An electrode catalyst is configured such that non-noble metal particles, noble metal particles or nitride-doped noble metal particles are supported on a carbon support, wherein the carbon support has a 2D planar crystal structure or a 3D polyhedral crystal structure and is doped with nitrogen, thereby exhibiting increased catalytic activity.

A method (100) for making a non-aqueous rechargeable metal-air battery is provided. The method includes before and/or after inserting (108) a cathode in the battery, a pre-conditioning step (104, 106, 110) of a 3D nanomesh structure, so as to obtain a pre-conditioned 3D nanomesh structure, the pre-conditioned 3D nanomesh structure being free of cathode active material. A cathode to be inserted into a non-aqueous rechargeable metal-air battery is also provided. The cathode includes a pre-conditioned 3D nanomesh structure made of nanowires made of electronic conductive metal material, the pre-conditioned 3D nanomesh structure being free of cathode active material. A non-aqueous rechargeable metal-air battery including such a cathode is also provided.

Provided is a microbial fuel cell including a cathode and an anode, wherein the cathode includes a waterproof gas diffusion layer including a siloxane and a catalyst layer including a binder, wherein a surface of the gas diffusion layer opposite the catalyst layer contacts air, and the anode includes electrogenic bacteria. Also provided is a method for making a microbial fuel cell, including fabricating a cathode, wherein fabricating includes disposing a siloxane solution onto a surface of a substrate, wherein the siloxane solution includes a siloxane and a solvent, drying the siloxane solution to form a waterproof gas diffusion layer, and placing the gas diffusion layer on a catalyst layer including a binder, and facing an anode with the cathode whereby the gas diffusion layer faces away from the anode and contacts air.

A CoVO.sub.x composite electrode and method of making is described. The composite electrode comprises a substrate with an average 0.5-5 μm thick layer of CoVO.sub.x having pores with average diameters of 2-200 nm. The method of making the composite electrode involves contacting the substrate with an aerosol comprising a solvent, a cobalt complex, and a vanadium complex. The CoVO.sub.x composite electrode is capable of being used in an electrochemical cell for water oxidation.

A high-performance positive electrode catalyst for a metal-air battery is disclosed, which is composed of transition metal nitride-transition metal oxide heterogeneous particles and a mesoporous carbon matrix. The nano heterogeneous particles, which are 10-50% based on the total mass of the catalyst, are dispersed in the mesoporous carbon matrix; and the oxide is 10-100% based on the heterogeneous particles. A preparation method of the catalyst includes: treating mesoporous carbon with a strong acid solution to obtain surface-functionalized mesoporous carbon; immersing the surface-functionalized mesoporous carbon in an aqueous solution of a transition metal salt, and stirring and washing; adding ammonia water and stirring to enable a confined complexation reaction; washing again, and vacuum drying; and calcining the product in an inert atmosphere or a vacuum condition.

Disclosed is a membrane electrode, fuel cell gas diffusion layer, and process for preparing the fuel cell gas diffusion layer, the process comprising: S1 coating microporous layer slurry on the surface of hydrophobic carbon paper; the microporous layer slurry was obtained by dispersing mixture of carbon powder, polytetrafluoroethylene dispersion solution, thickener, and solvent; S2 moving the hydrophobic carbon paper coated with the microporous layer slurry to a porous ceramic plate, and connecting a vacuum pump to the porous ceramic plate, vacuumed for adsorption pre-infiltration treatment, and then dried. S3 continuing to coat the microporous layer slurry on the hydrophobic carbon paper dried in step S2, then drying, and then sintering at 250-400° C. to obtain a gas diffusion layer. The beneficial effects of this disclosure include: this disclosure improve the water vapor erosion resistance of the microporous layer and the durability of the gas diffusion layer.

The various embodiments of the present invention provide a method of fabricating carbon felt based electrodes without any binder additive. A coating of conductive polymer adhesives is applied on the current collector. The carbon felts are placed on either side of the current collector to get an assembly. The assembly comprising current collector and carbon felt is placed between the plates of hot press with predetermined conditions for curing the adhesive applied on the surface of current collector and to obtain sandwich structure of electrode. The sandwich structure of electrode is subjected under a roller and pressed depending on required thickness and porosity of the electrodes. The electrodes are cut into desired shape using electrode cutting die in tailoring process. The prepared carbon felt based electrode illustrates high flexibility and mechanical robustness when compared to carbon felt electrodes that are binder based and brittle in nature.

A platinum-carbon catalyst, a preparation method therefor and an application thereof are provided. Among N.sub.1s spectral peaks of the XPS analysis of the platinum-carbon catalyst, except for the presence of characteristic peaks between 399 ev and 400.5 ev, there are no other characteristic peaks between 395 ev and 405 ev; and a carrier of the platinum-carbon catalyst is nitrogen doped conductive carbon black. The carrier conductive carbon black of the platinum-carbon catalyst is modified, and by means of controlling the doping form of a doping element, the mass specific activity and electrochemical area of the platinum-carbon catalyst are significantly improved; further, the stability of the platinum-carbon catalyst and the ability to resist carbon corrosion may also be improved. A method for preparing the platinum-carbon catalyst is also provided.

Disclosed are a mesoporous support for a catalyst of a fuel cell, which includes a graphite layer formed only on its surface and a method producing the same. The support may include a substrate; a graphite layer in a crystalline form and formed on a surface of a substrate, and further include a first pore having an average pore size of less than about 2 nm and a second pore having an average pore size of about 2 nm to 50 nm.