Patent ID: 8404613

Claim:
A catalyst comprising: a carbon nanostructure conformally coated with an atomically thin shell of a transition metal, wherein the atomically thin shell of the transition metal has a dual-layer structure comprising an inner transition metal shell and an outer noble metal shell; wherein the inner transition metal shell comprising copper, nickel, or zinc with a thickness selected from the group consisting of an atomic submonolayer, monolayer, bilayer, and trilayer; and an atomically thin layer of a catalytically active noble metal at least partially encapsulating the atomically thin shell of the transition metal, wherein the selected transition metal is not the same as the selected active noble metal; and wherein the carbon nanostructure is selected from the group consisting of carbon nanotubes, nanohorns, nanocones, nanoparticles, nanofibers, graphene, and fullerenes.