In other words, Pt-rich overlayer does not indicate an ideal 'core-shell' structure and still contains some of the less noble metal . First protocol was performed in accordance to the work described previously . Briefly, the process involves 4 times washing in 1 M acetic acid under CO purge. These two electrocatalysts are denoted as d-Pt-Cu/C-NIC-A and d-Pt-Ni/C-NIC-A and the activation protocol is denoted as S-activation. The second protocol involves 24 h washing in 0.5 M H2SO4 at 80 o C. This protocol was developed during the previous DoE projects . These two electrocatalysts are denoted as d-Pt-Cu/C-NIC-S and d-Pt-Ni/C-NIC-S and the activation protocol is denoted as S-activation. The results within this study are then compared to also activated d-Pt-Ni/C-JM benchmark with a similar metal loading provided by Johnson Matthey (JM).