In this work, a simple polyallylamine-assisted water-based synthesis is successfully used to synthesize high-quality gold-palladium@palladium (Au-Pd@Pd) core-shell nanoflowers. Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, element mapping, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques are used to characterize the morphology, structure and composition of Au-Pd@Pd core-shell nanoflowers. The as-prepared Au-Pd@Pd core-shell nanoflowers exhibit significantly enhanced electrocatalytic activity for the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) in basic medium compared with commercial Pd black. In addition, Au-Pd@Pd core-shell nanoflowers also show higher durability for the EOR than commercial Pd black. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.