A method of making a catalyst layer of a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) for a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell includes the step of preparing a porous buckypaper layer comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of carbon nanofibers and carbon nanotubes. Platinum group metal nanoparticles are deposited in a liquid solution on an outer surface of the buckypaper to create a platinum group metal nanoparticle buckypaper. A proton conducting electrolyte is deposited on the platinum group metal nanoparticles by electrophoretic deposition to create a proton-conducting layer on the an outer surface of the platinum nanoparticles. An additional proton-conducting layer is deposited by contacting the platinum group metal nanoparticle buckypaper with a liquid proton-conducting composition in a solvent. The platinum group metal nanoparticle buckypaper is dried to remove the solvent. A membrane electrode assembly for a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell is also disclosed.

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.

[Object] Provided is a catalyst having a high catalytic activity. [Solving Means] Disclosed is a catalyst comprising a catalyst support and a catalyst metal supported on the catalyst support, wherein the catalyst support includes pores having a radius of less than 1 nm and pores having a radius of 1 nm or more, a surface area formed by the pores having a radius of less than 1 nm is equal to or larger than a surface area formed by the pores having a radius of 1 nm or more, and an average particle diameter of the catalyst metal is 2.8 nm or more.

The present specification relates to a carrier-nanoparticle complex, a catalyst including the same, an electrochemical battery or a fuel cell including the catalyst, and a method for preparing the same.

An air electrode, when disposed in a metal-air battery, capable of maintaining the output of the metal-air battery to a desired value or more and a method for manufacturing the air electrode are provided. The air electrode includes a porous water repellent layer and a catalyst layer being in contact with the water repellent layer. The rate of hole area in a surface of the water repellent layer is 30 area % or more and less than 45 area %. The contact angle with water of the water repellent layer is 100 degrees or more and 120 degrees or less. The method for manufacturing the air electrode includes a water repellent layer-forming step of stretching a water repellent layer-forming material to form the water repellent layer, and a press-bonding step of press-bonding the water repellent layer and the catalyst layer.

A catalyst is provided for the two electron reduction of oxygen. The catalyst can be reversible or near-reversible. The catalyst comprises a gold and a cobalt coordination complex, i.e., N,N-bis(salicylidene)ethylene-diaminocobalt (II) (cobalt salen) or a derivative thereof. The cobalt coordination complex can be polymerized to form a film, for example, via electropolymerization, to cover a gold surface. Also provided are metal-air batteries, fuel cells, and air electrodes that comprise the catalyst, as well as methods of using the catalyst, for example, to reduce oxygen and/or produce hydrogen peroxide.

According to various aspects of the present disclosure, a catalyst for rechargeable energy storage devices having a first transition metal and a second transition metal, wherein the first and second transition metals are formed on carbon nanotubes, the carbon nanotubes are doped with nitrogen and phosphorous, wherein the carbon nanotubes have edges and interlayer spaces and are axially aligned, and the first and second transition metals form bimetal centers, wherein the bimetal centers may be uniformly distributed catalytic active sites located at the edges or the interlayer spaces of the carbon nanotubes providing intercalated layers. The present FeCoNPCNTs are a morphology-dependent catalyst that provides effective performance for bifunctional oxygen reduction reaction and oxygen evolution reaction in metal-air-cells and fuel cells.

A catalyst structure includes: (1) a substrate; (2) a catalyst layer on the substrate; and (3) an adhesion layer disposed between the substrate and the catalyst layer. In some implementations, an average thickness of the adhesion layer is about 1 nm or less. In some implementations, a material of the catalyst layer at least partially extends into a region of the adhesion layer. In some implementations, the catalyst layer is characterized by a lattice strain imparted by the adhesion layer.

A fuel cell electrode protective layer forming method is disclosed. The method includes forming primary defects in a carbon-based protective layer material via a formation step. The primary defects are configured to transport fuel cell products and/or reactants representing a transported portion of a total fuel cell products and/or reactants. The difference between the total fuel cell products and/or reactants and the transported portion is an untransported portion. The method further includes activating secondary defects in the carbon-based protective layer material via an activation step. The secondary defects are configured to transport a portion of the untransported portion of the total fuel cell reactants and/or products. The activation step is different than the formation step.

Described herein is a method for manufacturing a catalytically-active membrane-electrode-assembly (20) with one or more, particularly two electrodes, the method comprising at least the steps of: i) depositing a heterogenous layer (3) on a substrate (5), the heterogeneous layer (3) comprising a base metal (1) and a noble metal (2) heterogeneously distributed in the heterogenous layer (3), ii) leaching of the base metal (1) out of the heterogeneous layer (3), such that a first self-supporting nanoporous catalyst layer (4) comprising the noble metal (2) is formed on the substrate (5), iii) adding of at least one kind of proton-conductive ionomers (40) and/or at least one kind of hydrophobic particles (41) and/or an ionic liquid (42) to the first self-supporting nanoporous catalyst layer (4), and iv) forming a catalytically-active membrane-electrode-assembly (20) by attaching the self-supporting nanoporous catalyst layer (4) to a first side of a membrane (10), such that a catalytically-active membrane-electrode-assembly (20) with one electrode is formed.