Highly dispersed Pt-shell-Pd-core catalyst is synthesized via an electroless deposition and a galvanic displacement. From electrochemical analysis, the catalyst is confirmed to be active toward an ethanol oxidation reaction for a prolonged time, and is more resistive against COad-poisoning than a conventional Pt/C catalyst. The stable activity of Pt-shell-Pd-core/C is ascribed to the modified electronic property of Pt over-layer, which leads to a weak CO-adsorption strength with a high affinity for OH. The weakened binding property of surface Pt with COad was experimentally confirmed by conducting a COad-stripping and by measuring an electrochemically active surface area of the catalyst over multiple cycles. The COad oxidation ability of as-synthesized catalyst is further proved by a computational method via density functional theory (DFT) calculation. The result presents a potential application of the catalyst for the efficient ethanol oxidation in a direct ethanol fuel cell. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.