A novel methanol-tolerant oxygen-reduction catalyst, Iridium-selenium (Ir-Se) chalcogenide, was synthesized by chemical precipitation in an organic solvent. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) analysis confirmed that the synthesized Ir-Se chalcogenide had a chemical formula of Ir4Se. This chalcogenide showed strong catalytic activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and a high methanol tolerance. It was found that most of the oxygen could be directly reduced to water through a four-electron pathway with less than 10% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) being produced during the ORR. The improvement in catalytic activity of the Ir-Se chalcogenide in comparison with that of pure Ir might be attributed to the effect of a bimetallic interaction. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.