The factors controlling the behavior and the stability of electrocatalysts based on Pt, Ru and Mo nanoparticles during exhaustive electrochemical treatment are examined. Along this treatment, it has been observed that in the case of ternary catalysts there are pronounced changes in the structure of their surface resulting in electrode activation for methanol and CO electrooxidation, whereas the activity of binary PtRu/C and PtMo/C catalysts decreases. Therefore, the role of both Ru and Mo is crucial for the electrochemical activation of the catalyst, though metal losses do occur during electrochemical process. For the first time a detailed study of this phenomenon is presented, including characterization by HRTEM, TXRF, XRD, electrochemical measurements and in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). In order to get a deeper insight into the surface structure, chemical state, and stability of the electrocatalyst under reaction conditions, a combination of cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been used. By comparing bulk and surface composition, our results point out to the key role of the geometric effect enhanced by previous reduction of the nanoparticles. At the end of the electrochemical treatment, Mo-PtRu/C catalysts surface was restructured with substantial enrichment in Pt and a less pronounced Mo surface enrichment, while Ru is incorporated into the Pt-Mo overlayer. These results underline the possibility of further optimization of the surface structure and composition producing PtRuMo nanoparticles with high methanol and CO oxidation activity. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.