TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Compounds: The catalytic material precursor is a compound of palladium, platinum, gold, silver, rhodium, rhenium, ruthenium, osmium, iridium, iron, chromium, cobalt, copper, nickel, manganese, tungsten, molybdenum, niobium, scandium, titanium, vanadium, lanthanum, tantalum, lead, iridium, cadmium, tin, bismuth, hafnium, yttrium, zirconium, technetium, antimony, and/or gallium. The reducing agent may be hydrazine hydrochloride, hydrazine sulfate, hydrazine hydrate, alkali borohydride, hypophosphite, phosphite, hyposulfite, sulfite, sulfoxylate, thiosulfate, azide, copper chloride (CuCl) or tin chloride (SnCl2) dissolved in a solvent.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Compounds: The reducing agent may be formaldehyde, substituted pyridine, or formate.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Monomers: The difunctional monomer is acidic, acrylic, acrylate, alcohol, amine, amide, anhydride, arylene, carbonate, cyclic, esteric, etheric, heterocyclic, ketonic, olefinic, oxide, sulfide, sulfonamide, sulfonic, thiazole, thiol, or phosphonic side chain or a monomer with a side chain having a combination of these functional groups. Preferred Method: The polymer solution is formed by dissolving the catalytic material precursor in the polymer solution; dissolving a polymeric material and a compound of a catalytic material precursor; and/or dispersing the solid catalytic material particles in the polymer solution. The heat treatment is done by heating first to 100-500degrees C and then to 500-1150degrees C. EXAMPLE - A solution copolymerization of acrylonitrile (AN) (10.09 g) with 2-acrylamideo-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS) (2.05 g) was accomplished in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) at 80degrees C for 24 hours to achieve a 95 mole% acrylonitrile and 5 mole% AMPS in the final polymer. Azobisisobutyronitrile was used as radical initiator at 1/1000 mole% ratio with respect to monomers. Dimethylformamide (20 mL) was used as solvent. The homogeneous solution was processed by electrospinning. The average fiber diameter was 30-500 nm. The polymer fiber was wetted with 1% vol./vol. hydrazine-water solution and left for 24 hours. The electrospun fibers were then worked up and heat treated to 200degrees C in air for 30 minutes at a heating rate of 1degrees C/minute and then at 800degrees C in argon for 60 minutes at a heating rate of 5degrees C/minute. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) technique at the end of the heating cycle revealed that the average fiber diameter was 300 nm. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis revealed that the average particle diameter distribution was 5 nm.