Patent ID: 7851399

Claim:
A method of making a cathode catalyst, the cathode catalyst comprising a support, the support comprising at least one transition metal in elemental form, and at least one chalcogen in elemental form disposed on at least a portion of a surface of the support, the method comprising the steps of: a. providing a powder comprising the at least one transition metal or comprising a mixture of the at least one transition metal and oxides of the at least one transition metal; b. reducing the oxides of the at least one transition metal; c. providing an aqueous solution comprising at least one inorganic compound comprising the at least one chalcogen; d. combining the at least one transition metal or the mixture of the at least one transition metal and the reduced oxides of the at least one transition metal with the aqueous solution to form a mixture; e. providing a reducing agent to the mixture of step d to reduce the at least one chalcogen to form solid nanoparticles of the cathode catalyst, the solid nanoparticles comprising the at least one transition metal and the at least one chalcogen in elemental form; and f. collecting the solid nanoparticles.