AEMFC is becoming a prominent technology in portable energy sources. In an attempt to make it economical, non-platinum catalysts are necessary to recruit in the application. Numerous researches are accomplished on the development of platinum-free catalysts. This review summarizes the advancements in the synthesis of catalysts consisting of different components and structures. Rotating ring-disk electrode (RRDE) and fuel cell tests are commonly employed to evaluate the activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and performances of the catalysts. Here, along with the synthesis and characterization data, this information is assembled and analyzed correlating different factors. To the best of our knowledge, 13 among 203 catalysts have overcome the peak power density (PPD) threshold of 1000 mW.cm^-2, which belong to the four categories i.e. Metal-Nitrogen-Carbon (M-N-C), Bimetals-Nitrogen-Carbon (MM-N-C), Transition metal oxides (TMO), and non-metallic catalysts (NMC). The improvement in catalyst’s porosity, surface area, conjugation of active sites, and thereby the synthesis procedures have a great effect on the ORR activity and fuel cell performance. In addition to catalyst properties, there are several other significant factors involved such as water management, properties of anion-exchange membrane (AEM) and anion-exchange ionomer (AEI), optimized operating conditions, etc. The previously low-performing catalysts with high ORR activity cannot be ignored from the top-tier catalysts, since enormous improvements are accomplished in membrane conductivity and water management recently.

AEMFC 正在成为便携式能源领域的一项突出技术。为了使其经济，需要在应用中加入非铂催化剂。对无铂催化剂的开发进行了大量研究。本综述总结了由不同组分和结构组成的催化剂合成方面的进展。旋转环盘电极 (RRDE) 和燃料电池测试通常用于评估氧还原反应 (ORR) 的活性和催化剂的性能。在这里，连同合成和表征数据，这些信息被组装和分析，并与不同的因素相关联。据我们所知，203 种催化剂中有 13 种已经突破了 1000 mW.cm ^{-2的峰值功率密度 (PPD) 阈值}，属于四类，即金属-氮-碳（MNC）、双金属-氮-碳（MM-NC）、过渡金属氧化物（TMO）和非金属催化剂（NMC）。催化剂孔隙率、表面积、活性位点共轭以及合成过程的改进对 ORR 活性和燃料电池性能有很大影响。除了催化剂性能外，还涉及其他几个重要因素，例如水管理、阴离子交换膜 (AEM) 和阴离子交换离聚物 (AEI) 的性能、优化的操作条件等。以前性能低下的催化剂具有高顶级催化剂的 ORR 活性不容忽视，因为最近在膜电导率和水管理方面取得了巨大进步。