Samples of a palladium catalyst for direct formic acid fuel cell (DFAFC) applications were prepared on the Elat (R) carbon cloth by magnetron sputtering. The quantity of Pd was equal to 3.6,120 and 720 mu g/cm(2). The samples were tested in a fuel cell for electro-oxidation of formic acid, and were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The XPS measurements revealed a high contribution of PdCX phase formed at the Pd/Elat (R) surface interface, with carbon concentration in PdCx from x= 9.9-14.6 at.%, resulting from the C substrate and CO residual gases. Oxygen groups, e.g. hydroxyl ( OH), carbonyl (C=o) and carboxyl (COOH), resulted from the synthesis conditions due to the presence of residual gases, electro-oxidation during the reaction and oxidation in the atmosphere. Because of the formation of CO and CO(32)on the catalysts during the reaction, or because of poisoning by impurities containing the -CH3 group, together with the risk of Pd losses due to dissolution in formic acid, there was a negative effect of catalyst degradation on the active area surface. The effect of different loadings of Pd layers led to increasing catalyst efficiency. Current voltage curves showed that different amounts of catalyst did not increase the DFAFC power to a great extent. One reason for this was the catalyst structure formed on the carbon cloth. AFM and SEM measurements showed a layer-by-layer growth with no significant variations in morphology. The results for electric power recalculated for the Pd loading per 1 mg of catalyst layers in comparison to carbon substrates decorated by Pd nanoparticles showed that there is potential for applying anodes for formic acid fuel cells prepared by magnetron sputtering. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.