http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/research_news/chem/202508/t20250820_1051107.shtml
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09364-6
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) currently rely heavily on scarce and expensive platinum as a catalyst, making their widespread adoption impractical.
A research team led by Prof. WANG Dan (currently at Shenzhen University) and Prof. ZHANG Suojiang from the CAS Institute of Process Engineering has developed an inner curved-surface single-atom iron catalyst (CS Fe/N-C) with a unique nanoconfined hollow multishelled structure (HoMS). Each nano hollow particle, about 10 nm × 4 nm in size, consists of multiple shells where Fe atoms are concentrated on the inner layers at high density. It not only effectively weakens the binding strength of the oxygenated reaction intermediates but also reduces the hydroxyl radical production rate, forming a distinctive “inner activation, outer protection” microenvironment. The Fe/N-C catalyst delivers one of the best-performing platinum-group-metal-free PEMFCs.
According to the researchers, the catalyst achieved an oxygen reduction overpotential as low as 0.34 V, which is far better than that of planar structure. It also suppressed hydrogen peroxide formation and improved selectivity and durability. Additionally, it delivered a record power density of 0.75 W cm-2 under 1.0 bar H2-air with 86% activity retention after more than 300 hours of continuous operation.
