TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The platinum precursor is selected from platinum(II) acetylacetonate, platinum chloride and platinum hexaacetylacetonate. The cobalt precursor is dicobalt octacarbonyl and/or cobalt chloride. The inert gas is selected from nitrogen, helium, argon, neon, krypton, xenon and radon. The carbon support is selected from ketjen black, carbon nanotube and fullerene.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - METALLURGY - Preferred Method: The heating is carried out at 120-200 degrees C at a rate of 0.5-10 degrees C/minute, and the temperature of 200 degrees C is maintained for 60-90 minutes to obtain the PtCo alloy nanocubes.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The surface stabilizer is selected from oleic acid, oleylamine, trioctylphosphine and triphenylphosphine. The reducing agent is 1,2-hexadecanediol, ethylene glycol and 1,5-pentanediol. The solvent is selected from dioctyl ether, ethylene glycol, 1-octadecene and benzyl ether. The surface stabilizer is removed using diethyl ether as a surface stabilizer removal agent. EXAMPLE - Platinum(II) acetylacetonate (0.050 g), dicobalt octacarbonyl (0.0109 g), oleic acid (1.0 ml), oleylamine (1.0 ml) and 1,2-hexadecanediol (0.03 g) were dissolved in benzyl ether (8 ml) under an argon atmosphere and heated to 120 degrees C. The temperature was raised from 120-200 degrees C at a rate of 3 degrees C/minute and maintained at 200 degrees C for 90 minutes. After the reaction, the temperature was lowered to normal temperature. After adding ethanol (20 ml), followed by centrifuge at 3000 revolutions per minute (rpm) for 10 minutes, the supernatant was suitably discarded and the black precipitate was suitably dissolved in toluene. Any remaining ethanol solvent was completely removed in vacuum and the remaining solid was dissolved again in toluene to obtain PtCo alloy nanocubes. The obtained PtCo nanocubes were adsorbed on a carbon support ketjen black and then added to a toluene solution in an amount of 40 wt.% based on the weight of the carbon support. The mixture was stirred at 40 degrees C for a day at 300 rpm to prepare the catalyst. Then the solvent was completely removed and thus prepared catalyst was washed several times with diethyl ether to remove the surface stabilizer from the catalyst. Then, the supernatant was centrifuged and removed, and the remaining material was completely removed in vacuum to obtain the catalyst with the surface stabilizer removed. The obtained PtCo alloy nanocube catalyst had 4 times higher half-wave potential than the commercially available catalyst (Johnson Matthey catalyst). This showed that the catalyst prepared through synthesis of uniform PtCo nanocubes and removal of surface stabilizer exhibited superior catalytic activity.