Monodisperse and homogeneous PtxNi1-x alloy nanoparticles of various compositions are synthesized via an organic solution approach in order to reveal the correlation between surface chemistry and their electrocatalytic properties. Atomic-level microscopic analysis of the compositional profile and modeling of nanoparticle structure are combined to follow the dependence of Ni dissolution on the initial alloy composition and formation of the Pt-skeleton nanostructures. The developed approach and acquired knowledge about surface structure-property correlation can be further generalized and applied towards the design of advanced functional nanomaterials.