With a logical management of the catalyst selectivity, we present a scalable, membraneless alkaline direct liquid fuel cell (DLFC) platform. The uniqueness of this innovation is that the inexpensive (non platinum) cathode catalysts, based on strongly coupled transition-metal-oxide nanocrystals and nano structured carbon materials (e.g., NiCo2O4 nano-particles on a nitrogen-doped graphene and MnNiCoO4 nano-particles on a nitrogen-doped multi-wall carbon nanotube), exhibit high activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) but without activity for the anode fuel oxidation reaction (FOR). Therefore, operation of the DLFCs allows the anode fuel to freely enter the cathode. This strategy avoids the reliance on expensive or difficult-to-develop cation- or anion-exchange membranes and circumvents the scalability concerns of the conventional membraneless DLFCs that are operated under a laminar-flow principle. With proper catalyst selectivity, a variety of organic liquids can be used as anode fuels. The high power density delivered by the membraneless DLFCs with inexpensive components and safe fuels can enable the development of not only small-scale portable power sources but also large-scale energy generation systems for transportation and stationary storage. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.