Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) are studied extensively owing to their simple cell configuration, high volume energy density, short start-up time and operation reliability. However, the major drawbacks include high production cost, catalyst and methanol crossover poisoning. This study presents a simple method for Pt-M/C catalyst preparation using a magnetron sputtering (MS) and metal-plasma ion implantation (MPII) technique. The Pt catalysts were sputtered onto a gas diffusion layer (GDL), followed by implanting Cr, Fe, Ni, and Mo catalysts using MPII (accelerating voltage is 20 kV and implantation fluence is 1 x 10(16) ions/cm(2)). The crystallinity and microstructure of the catalyst films were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM). The cell performance was tested using potential stat/galvano station. The results indicate that the membrane electrode assembly for Pt-Ni/C, Pt-Fe/C and Pt-Cr/C catalysts can enhance DMFC cell performance, compared with traditional Pt/C and Pt-Ru/C. The maximum Pt-Ni/C power density is 2.4 mW/cm(2) with an open circuit voltage (OCV) 0.334 V when tested at a methanol concentration of 1 M. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.