Aiming to design and develop efficient ethanol electrooxidation reaction (EOR) catalysts, a new Pd-Au-P ternary nanoalloy catalyst (denoted as Pd4Au1-P/PDIL-CNTs) comprised of the ultrafine ternary alloyed nanoparticles of Pd4Au1-P (similar to 2.3 nm) uniformly anchored on ionic liquids derived from 3,4,9,10-perylene tetracarboxylic acid noncovalent functionalized carbon nanotubes (PDIL-CNTs) was fabricated through a facile surfactant-free wet chemical technique. Systematic characterization confirmed the formation of the Pd4Au1-Pd ternary nanoalloy and different electronic effects of the two alloying elements (Au and P) on Pd. Impressively, the Pd4Au1-P/PDIL-CNTs possessed promoted electrocatalytic performance, accelerated kinetics and enhanced stability than other tested catalysts toward EOR in alkaline medium, primarily owing to the synergistic effect of PDIL-CNTs, P, Au and Pd. Furthermore, a possible synergistic mechanism of PDIL-CNTs, P, Au and Pd for EOR is also proposed. Consequently, the newly designed ternary alloyed catalyst has great promise in constructing high-performance portable systems for advanced applications. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.