Me-N—C catalysts, wherein Me can include a transition metal, Mn, Fe, Co, or a combination of metals with Me-INU moieties located at the exterior surface of the Me-N—C catalysts are produced by a chemical vapor deposition synthesis. The synthesis methods can utilize non-solid-contact pyrolysis wherein a metal salt can be vaporized. Gaseous metal from the vaporized metal salt can displace a metal M from the N—C zeolitic imidazolate framework. The non-solid-contact pyrolysis does not mix solid iron precursors (e.g., Me=Mn, Fe, or Co) with the solid N—C zeolitic imidazolate framework precursors during or before the synthesis, which improves the process compared to conventional methods.

A method for controllably making catalysts with at least one metallic surface state, that includes: a) identifying all the topological insulators in the ICSD, b) calculating the Real Space Invariants of the valence bands for all these topological insulators in order to c) identify in all these topological insulators the Wyckoff Positions where the irreducible Wannier Charge Centers (WCCs) are localized, and then d) selecting as potentially catalytic active compound a topological insulator in which the position of WCCs is not occupied by any atom; e) synthesizing a crystal of the selected potentially catalytic active compound either so that it is grown in a predefined crystallographic direction (characterized by its Miller indices (h,k,l)) which exposes the metallic surface state; or cutting the crystal in a predefined crystallographic direction (characterized by its Miller indices (h,k,l)), so that the metallic surface state is exposed when

[00001]$\left(\left(\{\begin{array}{c}\left(h,k,l\right).Math.\left(x-X_j,y-Y_j,z-Z_j\right)=0,\\ \left(h,k,l\right).Math.\left(x-x_i,y-y_i,z-z_i\right)\ne 0,\\ h,k,lϵZ\end{array}\right)\right)$

The invention relates to electrochemical current sources, more particularly to metal-air current sources, and even more particularly to lithium-air current sources and their electrodes. A cathode comprises a base made of a porous electrically conducting material that is permeable to molecular oxygen, the working surface of which has a copolymer applied thereto, which is produced by the copolymerization of a monomeric transition metal coordination complex having a Schiff base and a thiophene group monomer. The monomeric transition metal coordination complex having a Schiff base can be, for example, a compound of the [M(R,R-Salen)], [M(R,R-Saltmen)] or [M(R,R-Salphen)] type, and the thiophene group monomer can be a compound selected from a thiophene group consisting of 3-alkylthiophenes, 3,4-dialkylthiophenes, 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene or combinations thereof. A current source comprises the described cathode and an anode made from an active metal, in particular lithium, wherein the cathode and the anode are separated by an electrolyte containing ions of the metal from which the anode is made. It has been established that in this system, the copolymer exhibits the properties of an effective catalyst. The technical result is an increase in the specific energy, specific power and number of charge and discharge cycles of a metal-air current source.

Provided is an oxygen reduction catalyst having an excellent oxygen reduction catalytic activity and a selection method thereof, a liquid composition or electrode containing an oxygen reduction catalyst, and an air battery or fuel cell provided with the electrode. An oxygen reduction catalyst containing a metal complex and a conductive material and having an ionization potential value of 5.80 eV or lower and a selection method thereof, a liquid composition or electrode containing an oxygen reduction catalyst, and an air battery or fuel cell provided with electrode.

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.

Provided is an electrochemical oxygen reduction catalyst comprising platinum-containing nanoparticles and at least one member selected from the group consisting of a specific polymer containing a melamine compound as a monomer and a specific melamine compound, the electrochemical oxygen reduction catalyst having not only high oxygen reduction activity (low overvoltage), but also high durability at 70 to 85° C., which are practical temperature conditions.

Disclosed is an improved fuel cell apparatus. The fuel cell apparatus comprises at least one fuel cell, the fuel cell comprising two bipolar plates (200a 200b), one providing an anode side, and the other providing a cathode side, the fuel cell being configured to have a fuel inlet and a fuel outlet, and a membrane electrode assembly (422) disposed between the fuel inlets (201) and fuel outlets (203) of the bipolar plates. The at least one fuel cell is retained by a housing, the housing comprising a first outer plate and a second outer plate, each located on an opposite face of the at least one fuel cell. The housing further comprises a cooling element support which is adapted to support one or more fans that are adapted to provide an air flow toward the at least one fuel cell.

A device for producing and/or storing electrical energy (2), characterized in that the device comprises: an anode (4), a cathode (6), a separator (8) allowing for the transfer of at least one compound capable of triggering and/or enabling a production and/or storage of electrical energy (8), arranged between the anode (4) and the cathode (6), and at least one breakable, pierceable, and/or deformable reservoir (10) made of a compound capable of triggering and/or enabling a production and/or a storage of electrical energy, said reservoir (10) having means for bringing said compound and said separator (8) into contact with each other; said means for bringing said compound and said separator (8) into contact with each other being, in particular, means for transferring a liquid.

The copolymer includes divalent units represented by formula —[CF.sub.2—CF.sub.2]—, at least one divalent unit represented by formula (I): and at least one divalent unit independently represented by formula (II): A is —N(RF.sup.a).sub.2 or a is non-aromatic, 5- to 8-membered, perfluorinated ring comprising one or two nitrogen atoms in the ring and optionally comprising at least one oxygen atom in the ring, each RFa is independently linear or branched perfluoroalkyl having 1 to 8 carbon atoms and optionally interrupted by at least one catenated O or N atom, each Y is independently —H or —F, with the proviso that one Y may be —CF.sub.3, h is 0, 1, or 2, each i is independently 2 to 8, and j is 0, 1, or 2. A catalyst ink and polymer electrolyte membrane including the copolymer are also provided.

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The present disclosure relates to aerogels based on transition metal complexes, preparation thereof and there use as highly active atomically dispersed oxygen-reduction catalyst with ultra-high catalytic site density and metal content.