A new BiVO.sub.4-laminate manufacturing method and BiVO.sub.4 laminate are provided. A bismuth-vanadate laminate is manufactured as follows: a substrate that can be heated by microwaves is disposed inside a precursor solution containing a vanadium salt and a bismuth salt, microwave-activated chemical bath deposition (MW-CBD) is used to form a bismuth-vanadate layer on the substrate, and a firing process is performed as necessary. A bismuth-vanadate laminate manufactured in this way is suitable for use as a photocatalyst or photoelectrode.

A composite is synthesized by pyrolysis of a mixture of tannin and melamine. The synthesis process comprises dissolving the tannin and the melamine in water to form a homogeneous solution; evaporating the solution to yield a dry solid; and subjecting powders of the dry solid to a heat treatment at a temperature for a duration of time effective to produce the composite.

A cluster-supporting catalyst including porous carrier particles having acid sites, and catalyst metal clusters supported within the pores of the porous carrier particles. In the cluster-supporting catalyst including porous carrier particles having acid sites, and catalyst metal clusters supported within the pores of the porous carrier particles, the catalyst metal may be rhodium, the catalyst metal may be palladium, the catalyst metal may be platinum, or the catalyst metal may be copper.

Provided is a process for producing satisfactory particles held in porous silica. The process comprises (a) the step of preparing porous silica, (b) the step of bringing the porous silica into contact with a liquid which contains either a metal or a compound that has the metal as a component element and infiltrating the liquid into the pores of the porous silica, and (c) the step of subjecting, after the step (b), the impregnated porous silica to a heat treatment to thereby form fine particles comprising the metal or the metal compound in the pores of the porous silica. When porous silica is synthesized by hydrolyzing an alkoxysilane in a solvent-free system, it is possible to synthesize porous silica having a fine pore diameter. Use of this porous silica as a template facilitates formation of particles (e.g., W, Cu, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, or Ni or an oxide of any of these metals) that show peculiar properties not observed in the bulk material.

A nitrogen oxide (NOx) reduction catalyst that includes a transition metal tungstate having the formula: MWO.sub.4 wherein M is selected from the group consisting of Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu. The catalyst may be utilized in various environments including oxygen rich and oxygen deficient environments.

A method of synthesizing a doped carbon composite includes preparing a solution having a carbon source material and a heteroatom containing additive, evaporating the solution to yield a plurality of powders, and subjecting the plurality of powders to a heat treatment for a duration of time effective to produce the doped carbon composite.

A specific method for preparing platinum particles grafted with proton-conducting polymers and use of these particles as catalysts for oxygen reduction.

High activity metal nanoparticle catalysts, such as Pd or Pt nanoparticle catalysts, are provided. Adsorption of metal precursors such as Pd or Pt precursors onto carbon based materials such as graphene followed by solventless (or low-solvent) microwave irradiation at ambient conditions results in the formation of catalysts in which metal nanoparticles are supported on i) the surface of the carbon based materials and ii) in/on/within defects/holes in the carbon based materials.

A method to predict the catalytic activity of a metal oxide of formula M.sub.xO.sub.y where x is a number from 1 to 3 and y is a number from 1 to 8 is provided. The metal of the metal oxide has redox coupled oxidation states wherein the redox transformation is between oxidation states selected from the group consisting of a diamagnetic oxidation state (M.sup.d+) and a paramagnetic oxidation state (M.sup.p+), a paramagnetic oxidation state (M.sup.p+) and a ferromagnetic oxidation state (M.sup.f+), and a paramagnetic oxidation state (M.sup.p+) and an antiferromagnetic oxidation state (M.sup.a+)where d, p, f and a are independently numbers from 1 to 6 and one of the oxidation states (M.sup.d+), (M.sup.p+), (M.sup.f+), and (M.sup.a+) is formed by reduction by the O.sup.2. The magnetic susceptibility of the metal oxide as a sample in an oxygen environment at a specified temperature is correlated with a value of (M.sup.d+ or M.sup.p+ or M.sup.f+ or M.sup.a+)/g (O.sub.2 rich). Then the magnetic susceptibility of the metal oxide as a sample in an oxygen free environment at the specified temperature is measured and correlated with a value of number of (M.sup.d+ or M.sup.p+ or M.sup.f+ or M.sup.a+)/g (O.sub.2 deficient). The catalytic activity is predicted based on the difference of these two numbers.

A multi-walled titanium-based nanotube array containing metal or non-metal dopants is formed, in which the dopants are in the form of ions, compounds, clusters and particles located on at least one of a surface, inter-wall space and core of the nanotube. The structure can include multiple dopants, in the form of metal or non-metal ions, compounds, clusters or particles. The dopants can be located on one or more of on the surface of the nanotube, the inter-wall space (interlayer) of the nanotube and the core of the nanotube. The nanotubes may be formed by providing a titanium precursor, converting the titanium precursor into titanium-based layered materials to form titanium-based nanosheets, and transforming the titanium-based nanosheets to multi-walled titanium-based nanotubes.