Highly branched Pt-Ni-Co core-shell nano-dendrites anchored on N-doped carbon aerogel: Synergism between meso-porosity and surface morphology for enhanced ORR performance

•Dendritic structures with N-doped carbon aerogel (N-AC) showed enhanced oxygen reduction performance.•Pt-Ni-Co/N-AC achieves mass and specific activities 9.9 and 2.5 times greater than commercial Pt/C.•Pt-Ni-Co/N-AC exhibits only 13.47 % ECSA loss and 10.1 % current loss at 5k cycles and 40k seconds testing.•Large surface area and optimized Pt-N/Ni-Co composition boost activity and stability. Dendritic nanostructures are seizing growing interest in electrocatalysis owing to their unique structural features and low density. Under unique branched structures with the symbiotic effect of N-doped carbon aerogel (N-AC), the obtained core-shell nano-dendrites (NDs) showed excellent oxygen reduction performance. In detail, the mass and specific activities of Pt-Ni-Co/N-AC were found to be 1.88 A mgPt−1 / 0.78 mA cm−2 which is 9.9/2.5 times greater than commercial Pt/C. Furthermore, Pt-Ni-Co/N-AC demonstrated the best performance with the lowest activity loss across 1k, 3k, and 5k cycles and 40k sec testing, (40k testing repeated 4 times). At the 5k cycle and 40k sec testing, the ECSA loss is 13.47 % and the current loss is 10.1 %, the smallest among all tested NDs. This indicates that they exhibit superior stability and durability over extended cycles. The catalyst's large surface area, effective exposure and accessibility of active sites in NDs, high Pt-N/Ni-Co content, and predominance of pyridinic-N over pyrrolic-N collectively add to ND's activity. Highly branched, porous interconnected structures supported by chemical active sites of N-AC and sustained performance of Pt-Ni-Co/N-AC NDs make them a reliable choice for fuel cell technology. [Display omitted]