An aminophenethyl-substituted [Re(2,2'-bipyridine)(CO)3Cl] catalyst ([Re(NH2-bpy)]) was tethered to nanoporous colloid-imprinted carbon (CIC) electrode surfaces via an electrochemical oxidative grafting method. Hybrid CIC|[Re(NH2-bpy)] electrodes showed an improved stability and an increased loading per geometrical area in comparison to modified smooth glassy carbon electrodes. The catalyst also remained active upon immobilization and CO2 was selectively reduced to CO by the CIC|[Re(NH2-bpy)] electrodes in acetonitrile with a Faradaic efficiency of 92 ± 6% and a Re-based TON of approximately 900.

A self-supported, binder-free and scalable nanoporous carbon scaffold serves as an excellent host for the efficient and uniform atomic layer deposition of Pt nanoparticles, showing exemplary performance as a cathode catalyst layer in a PEM fuel cell.

We introduce a novel self-standing, nanoporous carbon scaffold (NCS, 25 μm thick), with an ordered inverse opal pore structure (∼85 nm pore) as a microporous layer (MPL) in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. Unlike previous studies, through chemical functionalization of the pore surfaces, the wettability of the MPL is controllably modified without altering the pore structure. Ex situ environmental scanning electron microscopy experiments revealed water sorption in the hydrophilic NCS under moderate relative humidity (RH) conditions but not in the hydrophobic NCS, wherein water condensation on the surface was noted only at high RH. The influence of structure and wettability of different MPLs on cell performance was gleaned from steadystate cell polarization behavior. For cells operated under dry conditions (≤80% RH), the limiting current for cells with a hydrophilic NCS MPL was the highest while that for cells with a hydrophobic NCS MPL was the lowest regardless of the level of water saturation (RH).