Composition-controlled and carbon-supported PdFe nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared via a modified chemical synthesis after heat-treatment at high temperature under a reductive atmosphere. This novel synthesis, which combines the polyol reduction method and hydride method, was used to obtain monodispersed PdFe NPs. In addition, to induce structural modifications, the as-prepared PdFe NPs received heat-treatment under a reductive atmosphere. Structural characterization, including high resolution powder diffraction (HRPD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) analysis, indicated that heat-treated PdFe NPs exhibited a higher degree of alloying and surface Pd atomic composition compared with as-prepared ones. Furthermore, new crystalline phases were detected after heat-treatment. Thanks to the structural alterations, heat-treated PdFe NPs showed similar to 3 and similar to 18 times higher mass- and area-normalized oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activities, respectively than commercial Pt/C. Single cell testing with heat-treated PdFe catalysts exhibited a similar to 2.5 times higher mass-normalized maximum power density than the reference cell. Surface structure analyses, including cyclic voltammetry (CV), COad oxidation, and XPS, revealed that, after heat-treatment, a downshift of the Pd d-band center occurred, which led to a decrease in the affinity of Pd for oxygen species, resulting in more favorable ORR kinetics. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.