The WO3-C hybrid materials are prepared by intermittently microwave-pyrolysis using ammonium tungstate as the precursor. and then Pt nano-particles are deposited by microwave-assited polyol process on WO3-C. The TEM images show the dispersion of similar to 10 nm WO3 particles size supported on carbon and similar to 3 turn Pt metal crystallites supported on WO3-C. XRD results illustrate that WO3 presented as monoclinic phase and the content of WO3 in WO3/C and Pt/WO3-C catalysts is further characterized by EDAX. Furthermore, XPS characterizations indicate that the interaction between Pt and WO3 is dramatically enhanced after heat treatment at 200 degrees C. The activities of Pt/WO3-C for the electrochemical oxidation of methanol are compared with Pt/C in acid solution by cyclic voltammetry, CO-stripping and chronoaperometry. Pt/WO3-C catalyst calcined at 200 degrees C exhibits the highest activity per electrochemical active surface area for methanol oxidation and is 60 mV more negative for CO electro-oxidation than that of Pt/C and Pt/WO3-C without heat treatment. The great enhancement of electrochemical performance may be clue to the improvement of the synergistic effect between Pt and WO3 in Pt/WO3-C catalyst after heat treatment. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.