While gold and platinum have long been recognized for their beauty and value, researchers at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) are working on the nano-level to use these elements for creative solutions to our nation's energy and security needs. Multiinterdisciplinary teams consisting of chemists, materials scientists, physicists, computational scientists, and engineers are exploring unchartered territories with shape-selective nanocatalysts for the development of novel, cost effective and environmentally friendly energy solutions to meet global energy needs. This nanotechnology is vital, particularly as it relates to fuel cells.SRNL researchers have taken process, chemical, and materials discoveries and translated them for technological solution and deployment. The group has developed state-of-the art shape-selective core-shell-alloy-type gold-platinum nanostructures with outstanding catalytic capabilities that address many of the shortcomings of the Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC). The newly developed nanostructures not only busted the performance of the platinum catalyst, but also reduced the material cost and overall weight of the fuel cell.