Thin film electrodes from Pt nanorods supported on aligned N-CNTs for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

•Thin film electrodes by growing Pt nanorods on aligned N-CNTs deposited on 16 cm2 GDLs directly.•Active screen plasma nitriding of CNTs induces a uniform growth of Pt nanorods on the surface.•With less than half of the Pt loading, 1.23-fold power density is achieved over Pt/C electrodes.•Thin catalyst layer with open nanostructures significantly reduces mass transport losses.