Direct fuel cells have attracted an increasing notice over last decade, while its large-scale commercial development is also seriously impeded by the lack of cost-efficient electrocatalysts. The shape-controlled syntheses of binary Pt-based nanocrystals bounded with abundant surface active areas and tunable atomic ratio have been of vital importance in the fabrication and modification of outstandingly excellent electrocatalysts. Therefore, embodying the morphology advantages and composition effects are significant for synthesizing the cost-efficient electrocatalysts. In view of this, we herein report our efforts for demonstrating an eco-friendly approach to successfully synthesize a novel type of bayberry-like PtRu nanocatalyst with different compositions. Different from some other reported PtRu binary nanostructures, such as-prepared bayberry-like PtRu nanocrystals with rough surface can meet the requirement of both high mass activity and long-term stability, which shed light for the commercial development of direct fuel cells. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.