• • Pt/HNC-400 achieves a half-wave potential of 0.901 V, which is 41 mV higher than commercial Pt/C, indicating a significant improvement in ORR activity that could reduce the overpotential in fuel cells and enhance energy conversion efficiency.
• • The mass activity at 0.9 V is 15.3 times greater than that of Pt/C, demonstrating superior platinum utilization, which is critical for lowering catalyst cost by reducing the required precious metal loading.
• • After 10,000 accelerated durability test cycles, Pt/HNC-400 exhibits only a 25 mV decay in half-wave potential compared to 80 mV for Pt/C, and retains 87.4% of its initial electrochemically active surface area (102.7 m2 g−1), indicating excellent long-term stability essential for commercial deployment.
• • The catalyst's hierarchical porous structure, derived from template-assisted pyrolysis of ZIF-67 and SiO2 removal, provides a 3D interconnected network that enhances mass transfer and exposes more active sites, leading to improved ORR kinetics and durability.