Several commercial carbons were tested with respect to their thermal stability and electrochemical activity as Pt catalyst support for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). TGA analysis revealed that carbons with low BET surface such as graphite nanoparticles (GNP(500), 100 m(2) g(-1)) are less prone to degradation than ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC, 1000 m(2) g(-1)). Moreover, high Pt loading favored considerably carbon oxidation rate in air. Best results in terms of activity for ORR and stability during electrochemical accelerated degradation tests (ADT) were yielded by Pt/GNP(500) and Pt/OMC, respectively. High graphitization level and mesoporous surface structure of carbon were found to be determinant for sustainable Pt stability. Addition of certain amount of PTFE to Naflon as binder in gas diffusion electrode (GDE) catalyst layer dearly improved electrochemical surface area (ECSA) retention. Comparative identical location TEM images of electrochemically-aged Pt on Vulcan and OMC demonstrated positive influence of mesoporous carbon surface on immobilization of catalyst particles and consequently on ECSA retention. After 10,000 ADT cycles, ECSA retention was close to 30% for Pt/OMC compared to about 1% for Pt/Vulcan. This was due to dramatic increase of Pt particle size on Vulcan support up to 40 nm compared to about 15 nm for Pt on OMC.