Carbon mesopore depth engineering boosts the performance of low-platinum fuel cells

Chang-Song Ma; Kai Chen; Zi-Rui Li; Lei Tong; Shuai Li; Cong Xu; Kun-Ze Xue; Xiao-Chu Xu; Ru-Yang Shao; Tian-Wei Song; Yan-Wei Ding; Liang Zhang; Jianqiu Li; Hai-Wei Liang

doi:10.1038/s41467-026-73971-8

Carbon mesopore depth engineering boosts the performance of low-platinum fuel cells

Nat Commun. 2026 Jun 4. doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-73971-8. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Chang-Song Ma^#¹, Kai Chen^#^{2

3

4

5}, Zi-Rui Li¹, Lei Tong⁶, Shuai Li¹, Cong Xu¹, Kun-Ze Xue¹, Xiao-Chu Xu¹, Ru-Yang Shao¹, Tian-Wei Song¹, Yan-Wei Ding¹, Liang Zhang^{7

8

9

10}, Jianqiu Li^{3

4

5}, Hai-Wei Liang¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
² Center for Combustion Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
³ School of Vehicle and Mobility, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Green Vehicle and Mobility, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
⁵ Beijing Huairou Laboratory, Beijing, China.
⁶ Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. leitong92@ustc.edu.cn.
⁷ Center for Combustion Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. zhangbright@tsinghua.edu.cn.
⁸ School of Vehicle and Mobility, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. zhangbright@tsinghua.edu.cn.
⁹ State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Green Vehicle and Mobility, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. zhangbright@tsinghua.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Beijing Huairou Laboratory, Beijing, China. zhangbright@tsinghua.edu.cn.
¹¹ Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. hwliang@ustc.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 42243121
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-73971-8

Abstract

Ionomer adsorption-induced Pt poisoning and high local oxygen transport resistance constitute two critical challenges preventing proton exchange membrane fuel cells from achieving low-Pt loadings. Yet, strategies concurrently mitigating both issues remain limited, making it challenging to achieve satisfactory performance in both kinetically controlled low-current-density and mass transport-controlled high-current-density regions. Herein, we show that this limitation can be addressed with a mesoporous carbon support design whose key lies in constructing a small mesopore-dominated structure while rationally controlling pore depth to a medium level. This design creates an ideal local reaction environment for Pt nanoparticles inside the mesopores, one that protects most Pt from ionomer poisoning while achieving efficient oxygen diffusion. Using the developed carbon support, we synthesize an intermetallic PtCo nanocatalyst that delivers competitive membrane electrode assembly performance at low-Pt cathode loading (0.1 mg_Pt cm^-2), with a H₂-air rated power density of 1.23 W cm^-2 at 0.67 V under heat-rejection-constrained conditions and a H₂-O₂ mass activity of 1.1 A mg_Pt^-1.