A novel heat-treatment process for enhancing the performance of a microtubular direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) anode prepared by impregnation- reduction method has been developed. In this process, by using ion-exchange, the K+ form tubular electrolyte membrane deposited with PtRu was formed, then, heat-treatment was carried out under hydrogen atmosphere. It was confirmed that the characteristics such as ion-exchange capacity and proton conductivity of the tubular electrolyte membrane were maintained after this heat-treatment process below 523 K. A half-cell testing proved that high catalytic activity of the PtRu anode deposited on tubular electrolyte was established after the heat-treatment. (C) 2005 The Electrochemical Society.