A method for coating a substrate on one or more sides having catalytically active material producible by material deposition under vacuum in a vacuum chamber, using the following steps: loading a substrate in the chamber evacuating the chamber, cleaning the substrate by introducing a gaseous reducing agent, removing the gaseous reducing agent, applying an intermediate layer by means of vacuum arc evaporation, wherein a substrate comprising the same or similar material is introduced into the vacuum chamber, controlling the chamber temperature, coating by vacuum arc evaporation, a metal taken from the group ruthenium, iridium, titanium and mixtures thereof while oxygen is supplied, in a last step the coated substrate is removed from the chamber, wherein at least 99% of the substrate coating is free of constituents originally contained in the substrate itself, and at least 99% of the coating applied on the intermediate layer is kept free of non-oxidized metals.

An exothermic reaction of hydrogen/deuterium loaded into a metal or alloy is triggered by controlling the frequency of a hydrogen/deuterium plasma in a reaction chamber. The plasma frequency is controlled by adjusting its electron density, which in turn is controlled by adjusting the pressure within the reaction chamber. An exothermic reaction is generated at certain discrete plasma frequencies, which correspond to the optical phonon modes of D-D, H-D, and HH bonds within the metal lattice. For example, in palladium metal, the frequencies are 8.5 THz, 15 THz, and 20 THz, respectively.

A method for preparing a catalyst having catalytically active materials selectively impregnated or supported only in the surface region of the catalyst particle using the mutual repulsive force of a hydrophobic solution and a hydrophilic solution and the solubility difference to a metal salt precursor between the hydrophobic and hydrophilic solutions. The hydrophobic solvent is a C2-C6 alcohol. The hydrophobic solvent is introduced into the catalyst support and then removed of a part of the pores connected to the outer part of the catalyst particle by drying under appropriate conditions. Then, a hydrophilic solution containing a metal salt is introduced to occupy the void spaces removed of the hydrophobic solvent, and the catalyst particle is dried at a low rate to selectively support or impregnate the catalytically active material or the precursor of the catalytically active material only in the outer part of the catalyst particle.

A method for producing a catalyst using an additive layer method includes: (i) forming a layer of a powdered catalyst or catalyst support material, (ii) binding or fusing the powder in said layer according to a predetermined pattern, (iii) repeating (i) and (ii) layer upon layer to form a shaped unit, and (iv) optionally applying a catalytic material to said shaped unit.

A method for producing a catalyst using an additive layer method includes: (i) forming a layer of a powdered catalyst or catalyst support material, (ii) binding or fusing the powder in said layer according to a predetermined pattern, (iii) repeating (i) and (ii) layer upon layer to form a shaped unit, and (iv) optionally applying a catalytic material to said shaped unit.

A method of depositing contiguous, conformal submonolayer-to-multilayer thin films with atomic-level control is described. The process involves electrochemically exchanging a mediating element on a substrate with a noble metal film by alternatingly sweeping potential in forward and reverse directions for a predetermined number of times in an electrochemical cell. By cycling the applied voltage between the bulk deposition potential for the mediating element and the material to be deposited, repeated desorption/adsorption of the mediating element during each potential cycle can be used to precisely control film growth on a layer-by-layer basis.

The catalytic composition for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide is a metal oxide supported by multi-walled carbon nanotubes. The metal oxide may be nickel oxide (NiO) or tin dioxide (SnO.sub.2). The metal oxides form 20 wt % of the catalyst. In order to make the catalysts, a metal oxide precursor is first dissolved in deionized water to form a metal oxide precursor solution. The metal oxide precursor solution is then sonicated and the solution is impregnated in a support material composed of multi-walled carbon nanotubes to form a slurry. The slurry is then sonicated to form a homogeneous solid solution. Solids are removed from the homogeneous solid solution and dried in an oven for about 24 hours at a temperature of about 110 C. Drying is then followed by calcination in a tubular furnace under an argon atmosphere for about three hours at a temperature of 450 C.

Provided is a photocatalyst including: a porous metal oxide film; and metal particles formed on a surface of the porous metal oxide film.

A method for preparing a catalyst having catalytically active materials selectively impregnated or supported only in the surface region of the catalyst particle using the mutual repulsive force of a hydrophobic solution and a hydrophilic solution and the solubility difference to a metal salt precursor between the hydrophobic and hydrophilic solutions. The hydrophobic solvent is a C2-C6 alcohol. The hydrophobic solvent is introduced into the catalyst support and then removed of a part of the pores connected to the outer part of the catalyst particle by drying under appropriate conditions. Then, a hydrophilic solution containing a metal salt is introduced to occupy the void spaces removed of the hydrophobic solvent, and the catalyst particle is dried at a low rate to selectively support or impregnate the catalytically active material or the precursor of the catalytically active material only in the outer part of the catalyst particle.

Compositions and methods related to the synthesis and application of poly(aryl ether)s are generally described.