We report the synthesis of PtRu nanoparticles on the multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by a simple sodium borohydride reduction method. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis indicated that well-dispersed small (2-3 nm) PtRU particles were formed on the MWCNTs. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the formation of the PtRu alloy on the MWCNTs. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements revealed that 70.4% Pt and 61.0% Ru are present in their metallic states. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry results demonstrated that the PtRu/MWCNT synthesized by this method exhibited a higher methanol oxidation current than did the PtRu/MWCNT synthesized by the more complex method using sodium borohydride as the reducing agent and tetraoctyl ammonium bromide as the stabilizer. Finally, the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) performance test showed that the PtRu/MWCNT nanocatalyst used at the anode of the fuel cell yielded higher performance than did the commercial E-TEK PtRu/C catalyst. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.