Patent ID: 7785498

Claim:
A method of preparing a fuel cell electro-catalyst composition, said method comprising: (a) preparing a proton- and electron-conducting polymer having an electronic conductivity no less than 10 −3 S/cm and a proton conductivity no less than 10 −4 S/cm, wherein said polymer is selected from the group consisting of (A) sulfonated polypyrrole, sulfonated polythiophene, sulfonated polyfuran, sulfonated bi-cyclic polymers, derivatives thereof, and combinations thereof; and (B) a mixture of an electron-conducting polymer and a proton-conducting polymer; and (b) mixing and reacting said conducting polymer with a plurality of transition metal coordination complexes to produce said electro-catalyst composition having at least one heteroatom per backbone monomer unit thereof and a plurality of neutral transition metal atoms covalently bonded to at least a portion of said heteroatoms, wherein said transition metal atoms are not supported on carbon black.