A new method for producing highly active, carbon supported, Pt-Ru catalysts for methanol oxidation is presented. The catalyst is produced from carbonyl metal complexes by deposition of the precursors on carbon in a high boiling-point solvent, and a simple method of producing the necessary Pt carbonyl complex is also reported. Well distributed PtRu catalysts with high dispersion and narrow size distribution are obtained. Comparison of the catalyst produced by this method against commercial and in-house sulphito route catalysts show that it has a promising activity as well as presenting an easier route to ternary and quaternary catalysts. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.