Metastable alloys have recently emerged as high-performance catalysts, extending the toolbox of binary alloy materials that can be utilized to mediate electrocatalytic reactions. In particular, nanostructured metastable ordered intermetallic compounds are particularly challenging to synthesize. Here the present invention is directed to a method for synthesizing sub-15 nm metastable ordered intermetallic Pd31Bi12 nanoparticles at room temperature, in a single step, by pulsed electrochemical deposition onto high surface area carbon supports. The resulting Pd31Bi12 nanoparticles displays a 7× enhancement of the mass activity relative to Pt/C and a 4× enhancement relative to Pd/C for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The high performance of Pd31Bi12 nanoparticles is demonstrated to arise from reduced oxygen binding caused by alloying of Pd with Bi. The isolation of Pd-sites from each other facilitate methanol tolerant ORR behavior.

A catalyst comprising a porous electrically conductive substrate (such as a foam, carbon fibre paper and carbon fibre cloth) and a porous metallic composite of amorphous NiMoP coating at least a portion of the surface or multiple surfaces of the substrate. The composite preferably forms a continuous layer which coats the surfaces and pores of the substrate. Also methods for preparing and using the catalyst, for example in electrolytic water splitting.

The present invention discloses a low-platinum catalyst based on nitride nanoparticles and a preparation method thereof. A component of an active metal of the catalyst directly clades on a surface of nitride particles or a surface of nitride particles loaded on a carbon support in an ultrathin atomic layer form. Preparation steps including: preparing a transition-metal ammonia complex first, nitriding the obtained ammonia complex solid under an atmosphere of ammonia gas to obtain nitride nanoparticles; loading the nitride nanoparticles on a surface of a working electrode, depositing an active component on a surface of the nitride nanoparticles by pulsed deposition, to obtain the low platinum loading catalyst using a nitride as a substrate. The catalyst may be used as an anode or a cathode catalyst of a low temperature fuel cell, has very high catalytic activity and stability, can greatly reduce a usage amount of a precious metal in the fuel cell, and greatly reduces a cost of the fuel cell. The present invention has important characteristics of being controllable in deposition amount, simple and convenient to operate, free of protection of inert atmosphere, and etc., and is suitable for large-scale industrial production.

A method for constructing a starch fuel cell with an anode belongs to the field of fuel cells. The method includes using a PdNFs/FeNPs/MFC electrode as a working electrode, an Ag/AgCl electrode as a reference electrode, and a platinum wire as an auxiliary electrode to form a three-electrode system. The method includes placing the three-electrode system in a starch solution and a supporting electrolyte; setting the potential as −0.2 to 1.3V. The method includes recording the cyclic voltammetry curves of the starch with concentrations of 1 mmol/L, 3 mmol/L, 5 mmol/L, 7 mmol/L, and 10 mmol/L. The method includes analyzing the control process of the electrode electrocatalytic oxidization of the starch solution by the standard curve method. The present fuel cell can be used to manufacture portable power banks, and can be used in power plants, electric vehicles and other fields.

An array includes a support substrate, surface structures protruding from a surface of the support substrate formed from or coated with a first material, a second material deposited on at least some of the surface structures such that the second material is in contact with the first material; and wherein the first material, the second material or the first and second material is conducting or semiconducting, and wherein the first and second material at least partially form a composite.

A cathode configured to use oxygen as a cathode active material includes: a porous electrically conductive framework substrate; and a coating layer disposed on a surface of the porous electrically conductive framework substrate, wherein the coating layer includes at least one of a lithium-containing metal oxide or a composite including a lithium-containing metal oxide, and wherein a porosity of the porous electrically conductive framework substrate is about 70 percent to about 99 percent, based on a total volume of the cathode, and an areal resistance of the porous electrically conductive framework substrate is about 0.01 milliohms per square centimeter to about 100 milliohms per square centimeter.

Methods to improve redox flow battery performance with improved CE, reduced electrolyte solution crossover, and simplified solution refreshing process have been developed. The methods include controlling the pre-charging degree and conditions to allow high quality metal plating (ductile and uniform), for example, Fe(0), on the negative electrode. Control of the pre-charging conditions can be combined with increasing the concentration of metal ions compared to existing systems, while maintaining the same concentration in both the negative and positive electrolytes, or increasing the concentration of metal ions in the negative electrolyte so that the negative electrolyte has a higher concentration of metal ions than the positive electrolyte.

A method for treating a carbonaceous biochar electrode with an applied electric potential and resulting electric current, while submerged in an electrolyte, is disclosed in order to increase the biochar electrode's pore surface area and pore hierarchy, to affect a cleaning of unwanted materials and compounds from within the electrode and to optionally plate materials onto the surface pores of the electrode, such as graphene or metals, thus increasing the energy storage capacity of the biochar electrode when used in an energy storage device. Exemplary applications include electrodes for ultra-capacitors, pseudo-capacitors, batteries, fuel cells and other absorbing and desorbing applications.

The present invention relates to an electrode comprising an electrically conductive substrate of which at least one portion of the surface is covered with a metal deposit of copper, the surface of said deposit being in an oxidised, sulphurised, selenised and/or tellurised form and the deposit having a specific surface area of more than 1 m.sup.2/g; a method for preparing such an electrode; and a method for oxygenising water with dioxygen involving such an electrode.

The present invention relates to a flow battery system. The system comprises a first and second electrode comprising a lattice structure and at least one electrolyte supply configured to provide flow electrolyte through at least one of the first and second electrodes. A power circuit is operatively connected to the first and second electrodes to provide electrical power from the system.