Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) face commercialization challenges due to sluggish methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and catalyst poisoning. Pd-based alloy catalysts show promise in alkaline media, but their high cost, poor stability, and CO intermediate toxicity hinder practical applications. Herein, we present a melamine-assisted confinement strategy to construct ultra-small PdZn ordered intermetallic nanoparticles (O-PdZn@MEL/C) with optimized electronic configurations. The carbon shell derived from pyrolyzed melamine imposes spatial constraints that suppress nanoparticle coalescence while enhancing structural stability. Zn incorporation induces d-orbital hybridization, which downshifts the Pd d-band center to weaken CO* adsorption while strengthening OH* binding at Zn sites. The catalyst demonstrates exceptional mass activity (2505.35 mA·mg_Pd⁻¹), 3.65 times higher than that of commercial Pd/C, with a lower onset potential (0.47 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)). Stability tests reveal 94.3% activity retention after 500 cyclic voltammetry (CV) cycles and only 52.5% current density decay during 4000 s operation. This work establishes d-band engineering through ordered intermetallic design as an effective pathway to develop CO-tolerant, high-performance anode catalysts for advanced fuel cells.

Anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC) technology is attracting intensive attention, due to its great potential by using non-precious-metal catalysts (NPMCs) in the cathode and cheap bipolar plate materials in alkaline media. However, in such case, the kinetics of hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) in the anode is two orders of magnitude sluggish than that of acidic electrolytes, which is recognized as the grand challenge in this field. Herein, we report the rationally designed Ni nanoparticles encapsulated by N-doped graphene layers (Ni@NG) using a facile pyrolysis strategy. Based on the density functional theory calculations and electrochemical performance analysis, it is witnessed that the rich Pyridinic-N within the graphene shell optimizes the binding energy of the intermediates, thus enabling the fundamentally enhanced activity for HOR with robust stability. As a proof of concept, the resultant Ni@NG sample as the anode with a low loading (1.8 mg cm⁻²) in AEMFCs delivers a high peak power density of 500 mW cm⁻², outperforming all of those of NPMC-based analogs ever reported.

Crystalline γ-Ga₂O₃@rGO core–shell nanostructures are synthesized in gram scale, which are accomplished by a facile sonochemical strategy under ambient condition. They are composed of uniform γ-Ga₂O₃ nanospheres encapsulated by reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanolayers, and their formation is mainly attributed to the existed opposite zeta potential between the Ga₂O₃ and rGO. The as-constructed lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) based on as-fabricated γ-Ga₂O₃@rGO nanostructures deliver an initial discharge capacity of 1000 mAh g⁻¹ at 100 mA g⁻¹ and reversible capacity of 600 mAh g⁻¹ under 500 mA g⁻¹ after 1000 cycles, respectively, which are remarkably higher than those of pristine γ-Ga₂O₃ with a much reduced lifetime of 100 cycles and much lower capacity. Ex situ XRD and XPS analyses demonstrate that the reversible LIBs storage is dominant by a conversion reaction and alloying mechanism, where the discharged product of liquid metal Ga exhibits self-healing ability, thus preventing the destroy of electrodes. Additionally, the rGO shell could act robustly as conductive network of the electrode for significantly improved conductivity, endowing the efficient Li storage behaviors. This work might provide some insight on mass production of advanced electrode materials under mild condition for energy storage and conversion applications.