Alloy formation and chemisorption at bimetallic surfaces formed by vapor-depositing Zn on a Pt(111) single crystal were investigated primarily by using Xray photoelectron diffraction (XPD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), low-energy alkali ion scattering spectroscopy (ALISS), low electron energy diffraction (LEED), and temperature programmed desorption (TPD). A wide range of conditions were investigated to explore whether deposition and annealing of Zn films could produce well-defined, ordered alloy surfaces, similar to those encountered for Sn/Pt(111) surface alloys. These attempts were unsuccessful, although weak, diffuse (2 x 2) spots were observed under special conditions. The particular PtZn bimetallic alloy created by annealing one monolayer of Zn on Pt(111) at 600 K, which has a Zn composition in the surface layer of about 5 at. %, was investigated in detail by using XPD and ALISS. Only a diffuse (1 x 1) pattern was observed from this surface by LEED, suggesting that no long-range, ordered alloy structure was formed. Zn atoms were substitutionally incorporated into the Pt(111) crystal to form a near-surface alloy in which Zn atoms were found to reside primarily in the topmost and second layers. The alloyed Zn atoms in the topmost layer are coplanar with the Pt atoms in the surface layer, without any "budding" of Zn, that is, displacement in the vertical direction. This result is expected because of the similar size of Pt and Zn, based on previous studies of bimetallic Pt alloys. Zn atoms desorb upon heating rather than diffusing deep into the bulk of the Pt crystal. Temperature programmed desorption (TPD) measurements show that both CO and NO have lower desorption energies on the PtZn alloy surface compared to that on the clean Pt(111) surface.