Open Access

Metal-nitrogen/carbon (M-N/C) catalysts, particularly those incorporating Fe,Co, or Mn, are among the most promising non-platinum group catalysts forthe acidic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells. This study reports aCo-N/C catalyst featuring high (3 wt%) cobalt content exclusively present asatomic sites. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure analysis confirms atetrapyridinic Co-N4 coordination environment in the optimized (3.0)Co-N/C𝚫catalyst. The high cobalt loading leads to a significant density ofelectrochemically accessible active sites, 3.58 × 10 19 sites g−1 , quantified viathe nitrite stripping method. The catalyst demonstrates excellent ORR activityin a rotating ring-disk electrode setup, achieving a half-wave potential (E 1/2 ) of0.76 V at a low loading of 0.2 mg cm−2 and a mass activity of 3.5 A g−1 at 0.80VRHE . Single-cell hydrogen-oxygen PEMFC tests achieve a peak power densityexceeding 1.3 W cm−2 (iR-corrected). Under hydrogen-air condition, thecatalyst delivers 0.54 A cm−2 at 0.60 V (0.39 W cm−2 ). Despite the intrinsicallyhigher turnover frequency of Fe-based sites, the optimized(3.0)Co-N/C𝚫 catalyst achieves similar fuel cell performance to that of Fe-N/C,highlighting the critical role of site density in overall activity.