A new approach based on pulse electrodeposition is demonstrated to be an attractive technique to replace conventional powder type membrane electrode assembly (MEA) preparation methods. The performance of the catalyst layer is optimized by controlling the pulse deposition parameters such as the peak current density, duty cycle and the total charge density. The peak current density and the pulse duty cycle are found to control the nucleation rate and decrease the catalyst dendric growth. The amount of platinum loading is controlled by the total charge density. Preparing the electrode using a peak current density of 400 mA/cm(2), a duty cycle of 2.9% and a total charge density of 8 C/cm(2) results in a high catalyst performance of 380 mA/cm(2) at 0.8 V. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.