The reduction of Pt content together with the improvement of the durability of the catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is required to the large-scale commercialization of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. In this work, a novel ORR catalyst consisting of large Pd nanocrystal as the core with small Pt nanoparticles supported on the Pd core is prepared by a facile one-step synthesis method. The Pd substrate is presented in the form of well-defined cuboctahedrons and icosahedrons. The type of metal precursors and Pt/Pd molar ratio are important factors to obtain this Pd-supporting-Pt structure. The Pd-2-s-Pt-1 catalyst with a nominal Pt/Pd atomic ratio at 1/2 shows improved ORR activity: its mass specific activity and area specific activity is 2.5 and 3.5 times that of commercial Pt/C, respectively. More importantly, the Pd-2-s-Pt-1 catalyst demonstrates outstanding durability against potential cycling which can be ascribed to the slow dissolution of Pd core and the structure transformation from Pd@Pt to hollow PdPt alloyed nanocages. This exciting result provides a new pathway to the design of ORR catalyst with excellent durability. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.