Oxygen Reduction Catalyzed by Pt Nanoparticles Confined in Mesoporous Carbon Supports Doped with Single Fe Atoms

Enhancing the homodispersion of Pt nanoparticles and their interaction with carbon supports is a promising strategy for improving the activity and stability of Pt-based catalysts in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells. We have developed a highly efficient and durable catalyst by confining Pt nanoparticles in a mesoporous carbon support doped with single Fe atoms (named as Pt/Meso Fe 1 -NC). The Pt/Meso Fe 1 -NC catalyst, which combined the pore confinement effect with the electronic metal–support interaction strategy, exhibited enhanced activity with a half-wave potential of 0.915 V and a mass activity of 0.566 A/mg Pt . The observed improvement is ascribed to the electronic regulation between Pt and single Fe atoms, facilitated by the electron transfer from Pt to single Fe atoms. Moreover, the pore confinement and electronic metal–support interaction contributes to the superior durability with a negligible loss of 6 mV after 30 000 cycles in 0.1 M HClO 4 . The approach developed in this study offers a pathway to synthesize outstanding hybrid ORR catalysts.