A high-efficiency platinum catalyst stabilized with sodium citrate for methanol oxidation is introduced in this paper, in which freshly prepared non-noble active cobalt is employed as reducer. According to Xray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements, the novel as-prepared nanoclusters Pt catalyst dispersed on carbon is composed of Pt nanoparticles, and the average particle size of the Pt nanoparticles is 2.0 nm. The catalyst with sodium citrate shows a very high electrochemically active surface area and significant increase electrocatalytic activity towards methanol oxidation, which indicates that it would be a better potential candidate for application in a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.