Amino acids with intrinsic affinity to metallic ions can be employed for controllable synthesis of metal nanocrystals with tunable size and morphology, as well as less toxicity. In this work, L-histidine was exploited as a structure-director for in situ controlled growth of bimetallic PtPd alloyed nanoflowers on reduced graphene oxide (RGO-PtPd nanoflowers) by a simple one-pot aqueous approach at room temperature. There was no seed, template, special apparatus or organic solvent involved in the synthetic process. The as-synthesized nanocomposites displayed improved electrocatalytic ability and durability for ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR) as compared to Pt-RGO, Pd-RGO, commercial PtRu/C, Pt black and Pt/C catalysts. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.