Patent ID: 7892299

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a fuel cell electrode having supported nanocatalyst particles, comprising: (a) forming a solution comprising a plurality of catalyst atoms and a plurality of organic ligands in the absence of a conductive support material; (b) heating the solution to a temperature greater than about 40° C. in the absence of a conductive support material and allowing the catalyst atoms and the plurality of organic ligands to react to form a plurality of organometallic complexes in which each catalyst atom is complexed with and caged between at least three organic ligands; (c) causing or allowing formation of catalyst nanoparticles from the organometallic complexes, wherein during formation of the nanoparticles, the organic ligands on the complexes provide spacing between the catalyst atoms via steric hindrances such that the nanoparticles formed therefrom have an average particle size less than about 20 nm in diameter; (d) depositing either the organometallic complexes from (b) or the catalyst nanoparticles from (c) on an a conductive support material; and (e) incorporating the supported catalyst nanoparticles into a fuel cell electrode.