Patent ID: 7935652

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a supported nanocatalyst having small, highly dispersed and substantially uniformly sized catalyst metal nanoparticles, the method comprising: forming a solution comprising a solvent, a plurality of catalyst metal atoms, and a dispersing agent that provides a plurality of organic ligands for complexing with the catalyst metal atoms, the organic ligands including acid groups; heating the solution to a temperature greater than about 60° C. and allowing the catalyst metal atoms and the plurality of organic ligands to react to form a plurality of organometallic complexes, wherein each catalyst metal atom is complexed with and caged between at least three organic ligands; prior to forming catalyst metal nanoparticles from the organometallic complexes, mixing the solution with a support material to atomically disperse the complexed and caged catalyst metal atoms on the support; and causing or allowing formation of small, finely dispersed catalyst metal nanoparticles from the organometallic complexes on the support material, wherein during formation of the catalyst nanoparticles, the organic ligands of the organometallic complexes interact with the support material so as to provide spacing between the catalyst metal atoms via steric hindrances such that the catalyst nanoparticles formed therefrom are highly dispersed, substantially uniformly sized, and have an average particle size less than about 10 nm in diameter.