This application relates to new process that utilizes electrodes that incorporate acids that facilitate upgrading of methane and other low molecular weight alkanes to higher order hydrocarbon molecules, such as paraffins, olefins, and aromatics, at temperatures less than 250° C. A primary focus of the invention includes methane conversion to ethylene. The first step of the process includes acid containing electrodes that facilitate the activation of the alkane in the anode layer of the electrochemical reactor. Subsequent steps include the separation of protons from produced longer chain hydrocarbons followed by subsequent electrochemical reduction of the protons to yield hydrogen at the cathode or protons combined with oxygen at the cathode to yield water. The reaction steps in the anode upgrade methane to higher order hydrocarbon products.

The invention is related to a carbon supported catalyst comprising a carbon-comprising support with a BET surface area in a range from 400 m.sup.2/g to 2000 m.sup.2/g, a modifier comprising at least one mixed metal oxide, comprising niobium and titanium, and/or a mixture, comprising niobium oxide and titanium oxide, a catalytically active metal compound, wherein the catalytically active metal compound is platinum or an alloy comprising platinum and a second metal or an intermetallic compound comprising platinum and a second metal, the second metal being selected from the group consisting of cobalt, nickel, chromium, copper, palladium, gold, ruthenium, scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, niobium, iron, vanadium and titanium.

The invention is further related to a process for preparing the carbon supported catalyst.

To provide electrode catalyst (core-shell catalyst) having an excellent catalyst activity which contributes to lower the cost of the PEFC. The electrode catalyst has catalyst particles supported an a support. The catalyst particle has a core part containing simple Pd and a shell part containing simple Pt. A percentage R.sub.C (atom %) of the carbon of the support and a percentage R.sub.Pd (atom %) of the simple Pd in an analytical region near a surface measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) satisfy the conditions of the following equation (1): 2.15≦[100×R.sub.Pd/(R.sub.Pd+R.sub.C)].

A unit cell of a fuel cell may include: a membrane-electrode assembly including a proton exchange membrane, an anode electrode fastened to a first face of the proton exchange membrane, a first flow guide plate positioned facing the anode electrode and including at least one flow channel having a fuel inlet zone, a median flow zone and a fuel outlet zone. The anode electrode may have, at the fuel outlet zone, a tolerance to carbon monoxide pollution greater than its average tolerance to carbon monoxide pollution at the median flow zone and at the fuel inlet zone.

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 carrier powder is thermodynamically stable and conductivity can be easily provided thereto. A carrier powder includes an aggregate of carrier fine particles; wherein: the carrier fine particles include a chained portion structured by fusion bonding a plurality of crystallites into a chain; the carrier fine particles contain titanium oxide; and a ratio of anatase phase/rutile phase of the titanium oxide of the carrier powder is 0.2 or lower.

A method of producing electrodes includes selecting a palladium alloy, annealing the palladium alloy at a first temperature above 350° C., cold working the palladium alloy into a desired electrode shape, and annealing the palladium alloy at a second temperatures and for a time sufficient to produce a grain size between about 5 microns and about 100 microns. The method further includes etching the palladium alloy, rinsing the palladium alloy with at least one of water and heavy water, and storing the palladium alloy in an inert environment.

Carbon-based single metal atom or bimetallic, trimetallic, or multimetallic alloy transition metal-containing catalysts derived from exoelectrogen bacteria and their methods of making and using thereof are described. The method comprising the steps of: (a) preparing a solution medium comprising at least an electron donor and an electron acceptor comprised of one or more salts of a transition metal; (b) providing exoelectrogen bacterial cells and mixing the exoelectrogen bacterial cells into the solution medium of step (a); (c) incubating the solution medium of step (b); (d) isolating the exoelectrogen bacterial cells from the incubated solution medium of step (c); and (e) pyrolyzing the exoelectrogen bacterial cells resulting in formation of the catalyst. The electron donor can be formate, acetate, or hydrogen.

A fuel cell includes a flow field plate having at least one channel and at least one land, where each of the at least one channel is positioned between two adjacent lands. The fuel cell further includes a gas diffusion layer (GDL) positioned between the flow field plate and a catalyst layer, where the catalyst layer has a first region aligned with the at least one channel and a second region aligned with the at least one land. The first region may have a first catalyst material supported by a first catalyst support region, and the second region may have a second catalyst material supported by a second catalyst support region.

Hybrid catalyst suitable for use in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell and method of preparing same. In one embodiment, the hybrid catalyst is iron-free and includes an Mn—N—C support and platinum-containing nanoparticles that are dispersed on the Mn—N—C support. The Mn—N—C support preferably comprises atomically dispersed and nitrogen coordinated MnN.sub.4 moieties and has a particle size of about 30 to 200 nm. The platinum-containing nanoparticles preferably have a particle size ranging from about 2 to 8 nm and are made of platinum or a platinum-cobalt intermetallic alloy, such as a cubic L1.sub.2 Pt.sub.3Co alloy or a tetragonal L1.sub.0 PtCo alloy. The hybrid catalyst may be made by combining a quantity of a hexachloroplatinic acid solution with a quantity of an Mn—N—C support, sonicating the mixture in an ice bath, freeze-drying the sonicated product, calcinating the freeze-dried product under a forming gas, and heating the calcinated product.