One problem of carbon supported Pd (Pd/C) anodic catalyst in direct formic acid fuel cell (DFAFC) is the poor electrocatalytic stability. Thus, the carbon supported Pd-Ni (Pd-Ni/C) catalyst was successfully synthesized via the high-temperature calcination and chemical etching. It was found that the electrocatalytic performance of the Pd-Ni/C catalyst for formic acid oxidation is much better than that of the Pd/C catalyst. It is due to two reasons. One is that the Pd-Ni/C catalyst prepared possesses the high alloy extent because the Pd based catalysts with high alloy extent possess usually the high electrocatalytic performance. Another is that the Pd-Ni/C catalyst can inhibit the decomposition of formic acid. Therefore, the Pd-Ni/C catalyst could be significantly protected from CO poisoning, leading to the excellent electrocatalytic stability. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.