Until now, Pt is commonly used as anode catalyst for methanol oxidation in direct methanol fuel cells. Here we report that chemical corrosion of PtRuCu6/C, which was prepared by microwave-polyol technique, promotes the activity of Pt for methanol oxidation. The PtRuCu6/C is chemically corroded, and the obtained sample is denoted as PtRuCu6-A/C. The PtRuCu6-A/C contains a Pt-Ru-Cu core and Pt-Ru shell with surface defects. The PtRuCu6-A/C has surface activity and mass activity 10.6 and 6.0 times higher than those of Pt/C for methanol oxidation. And the surface activity and mass activity of PtRuCu6-A/C are 3.3 and 3.9 times higher than those of PtRu/C for methanol oxidation. The enhanced activity of PtRuCu6-A/C is attributed to the surface defects and the stronger electronic modification of Pt. This facile preparation strategy provides a new route of synthesizing highly active catalysts for methanol oxidation. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.