Fabrication of Pt–Re atomic alloy catalysts by alloying of atomically dispersed Pt with Re inside the $$\upbeta $$ β -zeolite pores for an oxygen reduction reaction

The Pt–Re atomic alloy is fabricated by alloying of atomically dispersed Pt with Re inside the $$\upbeta $$ -zeolite pores with a size of 0.5–0.6 nanometres. The atomically dispersed Pt–Re alloy species exhibit a surprisingly high mass activity of about 60 A $$\hbox {g}_{\mathrm{Pt}}^{-1}$$ for the oxygen reduction reaction, which is much higher than that of the existing Pt nanoparticle catalysts with a Pt particle size of several nanometres.