TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The conducting material is a porous carbon, nonporous carbon, porous metal, nonporous metal, porous polymer and/or nonporous polymer. The porous metal or the nonporous metal is titanium, aluminum, nickel, stainless steel and/or iron. The conducting material is coated with 1-5 nanoporous oxide layers. The conducting material is partially coated with the nanoporous oxide layers. The nanoporous oxide is silicon dioxide, zirconium oxide, titanium oxide, aluminum oxide, manganese oxide, magnesium oxide, magnesium aluminum oxide, tin oxide, lead oxide and/or iron oxide. The nanoporous oxide is made from a stable sol-gel suspension, where an atom of the nanoporous oxide is beryllium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, barium, manganese, radium, titanium, zirconium, hafnium, zinc, cadmium, mercury, boron, aluminum, gallium, indium, thallium, carbon, silicon, germanium, tin and/or lead. The nanoporous oxide has an average pore diameter of 0.01-500 nm. The nanoporous oxide has an average thickness of 0.01-50 nm. Preferred Method: The nanoporous oxide is applied to the conducting material by chemical vapor deposition, dip-coating, electrodeposition, imbibing, plasma spray-coating, spin coating, sputter-coating, slip casting and/or spray-coating.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INSTRUMENTATION AND TESTING - Preferred Components: The electrolyzer comprises at least two electrodes.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The electrolyzer further comprises an aqueous solution comprising an electrolyte-containing solution comprising an electrolyte including phosphoric acid, potassium chloride, sodium perchlorate, sodium chloride, lithium chloride, lithium nitrate, potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, lithium hydroxide, ammonium hydroxide, ammonium chloride, ammonium nitrate, lithium perchlorate, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, sulfuric acid, potassium perchlorate, sodium phosphate, disodium hydrogen phosphate and/or monosodium phosphate. The pH of the aqueous solution is 2-12.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Components: The porous polymer or the nonporous polymer is polyaniline, polypyrrole, polythiophenes, polyethylenedioxythiophene and/or poly(p-phenylene vinylene)s.