COMPOSITE FIBER STRUCTURE FOR CATALYSTS AND ELECTRODES

We have recently envisioned a process wherein fibers of various metals in the 0.5 to 15 mu m diameter range are slurried in concert with cel lulose fibers and various other materials in the form of particulates and/or fibers. The resulting slurry is cast via a wet-lay process into a sheet and dried to produce a free-standing sheet of 'composite pape r'. When the 'preform' sheet is sintered in hydrogen, the bulk of the cellulose is removed with the secondary fibers and/or particulates bei ng entrapped by the sinter-locked network provided by the metal fibers . The resulting material is unique in that it allows the intimate cont acting and combination of heretofore mutually exclusive materials and properties. Moreover, due to the ease of paper manufacture and process ing, the resulting materials are relatively inexpensive and can be fab ricated into a wide range of three-dimensional structures. Also, becau se cellulose is both a binder and a pore-former, structures combining high levels of active surface area and high void volume (i.e., low pre ssure drop) can be prepared as free-standing flow through monoliths.