Carbon-supported gold nanoparticles (Au/C) are successfully decorated with mono- or sub-monolayer palladium atoms with different Pd/Au atomic ratios by a chemically epitaxial seeded growth method. TEM, UV-vis spectrometry and XRD techniques are used to characterize the particle size, dispersion, palladium coverage on gold seeds and crystal structures of the prepared catalysts. Cyclic voltammetric tests show that the Pd-clecorated Au/C (denoted by Pd@Au/C) have higher specific activities than that of Pd/C for the oxidation of ethanol in alkaline media. This suggests that the I'd utilization is improved with such a surface-alloyed nanostructure. In addition, stable chronoamperometric responses are achieved with the so-prepared electrocatalysts during ethanol oxidation. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.