The carbon-supported Pt-modified Au nanoparticles were prepared by two different chemical reduction processes, the simultaneous chemical reduction of Pt and Au on carbon process (A-AuPt/C) and the successive reduction of Au then Pt (B-AuPt/C) on carbon process. These two catalysts were investigated as the anode catalysts for a direct borohydride fuel cell (DBFC) and Au nanoparticles oil carbon (Au/C) were also prepared for comparison The DBFC with B-AuPt/C as the anode catalyst shows the best anode and fuel cell performance The maximum power density with the B-AuPt/C catalyst is 112 mW cm(-2) at 40 degrees C, compared to 97 mW cm(-2) for A-AuPt/C and 65 mW cm(-2) for Au/C. In addition, the DBFC with the B-AuPt/C Catalyst shows the best fuel utilization with a maximum apparent number of elections (N-app) equal to 6 4 in 1 M NaBH4 and 7 2 in 0 5 M NaBH4 as compared to the value of N-app of 8 for complete utilization of borohydride. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.