Nanoparticles of precious metals on conductive carbon carriers are used in various areas of the heterogenic catalysis and electro catalysis, for example the electrolytic hydrogen production. The precious metals used for these catalysts are rare and expensive, therefore limiting the industrial application. The enhanced catalytic effectiveness with decreased demand of precious metals is therefore the declared aim.

With this invention, a process is presented for the production of electrically conductive carbon layers of high surface area with integrated precious metal nanoparticles. Polymeric precursors of the carbon, pore templates and preformed metal naoparticles are deposited onto a substrate. After a carbonization treatmet a mesoporous carbon layer is formed with well-distributed metal nanoparticles. Layer thicknesses of few nanometers up to several micrometers are feasible. Figure 2 shows the electrochemical activity of Pt-containing catalyst coatings in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Per platin mass, the PtNC/OMC catalysts show a higher activity than layers of comercially available Pt/C catalyst layers.