Bowl-like nanostructures of Pt/Pd bimetallic nanocrystals are prepared by employing Ag nanoparticles as a template and completely removing the residual Ag after the displacement Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations display that the thin walls of Pt/Pd nanobowls are composed of nanoparticles X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern demonstrates that Pt and Pd form the alloy in the nanobowls The crystal structures of the nanobowls consist of [1 1 1] [2 0 0] [2 2 0] surfaces as revealed by both high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) and XRD results The Pt/Pd nanobowls exhibit significant high electrocatalytic activities toward the methanol oxidation and oxygen reduction compared with the Pt/Pd nanospheres and Pt nanobowls (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved