Over the past few decades, direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) have been intensively developed as clean and high-efficiency energy conversion devices. However, their dependence on expensive Pt-based catalysts for both the anode and the cathode make them unsuitable for large-scale commercialisation. The essential solution to addressing this shortfall is the development of low-Pt and non-Pt catalysts. Regarding this issue, considerable advances have been made with low-Pt alloys and core-shell-like catalysts, as well as non-platinum Pd–Me, Ru–Se and heat-treated MeN_xC_y-based catalysts. This perspective reviews potential pathways for increasing the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of these catalysts. Fundamental understanding of the composition–activity and structure–activity relationships, innovative synthesis, and promising developmental directions are highlighted. Regarding durability, the main degradation mechanism of these catalysts and the corresponding mitigating strategies are presented.

This review showcases the recent progress in understanding and designing M–N_x/C electrocatalysts towards the ORR, aiming to provide some guidelines for their practical applications in PEMFCs.

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER), as the anodic reaction of water electrolysis (WE), suffers greatly from low reaction kinetics and thereby hampers the large-scale application of WE. Seeking active, stable, and cost-effective OER catalysts in acidic media is therefore of great significance. In this perspective, studying the reaction mechanism and exploiting advanced anode catalysts are of equal importance, where the former provides guidance for material structural engineering towards a better catalytic activity. In this review, we first summarize the currently proposed OER catalytic mechanisms, i.e., the adsorbate evolution mechanism (AEM) and lattice oxygen evolution reaction (LOER). Subsequently, we critically review several acidic OER electrocatalysts reported recently, with focus on structure–performance correlation. Finally, a few suggestions on exploring future OER catalysts are proposed.

The hydrogen evolution reaction is a crucial step in electrochemical water splitting. The most efficient catalysts for this reaction in acidic media are Pt based, but the high cost of Pt limits its practical applications. We developed a novel matrix architecture in which a trace amount of Pt is alloyed in situ with Ru nanoparticles uniformly and partially embedded in porous carbon spheres. The synthetic procedure is simple and efficient. Surface enrichment of metallic Pt nanoclusters on PtRu alloy nanoparticles results in weak bonding with hydrogen and rapid hydrated proton dissociation. These effects significantly increase the electrocatalytic activity in the hydrogen evolution process. This robust catalyst, with a Pt loading 99.9% less than that of a commercial Pt-based catalyst, gave a high turnover frequency (4.03 H₂ s⁻¹), a small Tafel slope (27.2 mV dec⁻¹), and comparable overpotentials (19.7 mV and 43.1 mV), as well as achieved current densities of 10 and 100 mA cm⁻², i.e., better than those obtained with commercial Pt/C catalyst, in 0.5 M H₂SO₄. This structure prevents nanoparticles from dissolving, agglomerating, and detaching during long-term operation; therefore there was no obvious decrease in catalytic activity after continuous reaction.