This is true, Zelenay noted, especially in the fuel cell cathode, where a relatively
slow oxygen reduction reaction, or ORR, takes place that requires significant «loading» of platinum.
By combining two simple, inexpensive, metal - free catalysts, they sped the cell's
slower reaction, taking protons and electrons derived from the hydrogen fuel and combining them with
oxygen to pump out water, a reaction known as the
oxygen reduction reaction.