Electrochemical oxidation of ethanol has been studied at nickel and $RuO_2-modified$ nickel electrodes in 1 M KOH using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Equivalent circuits have been worked out from simulation of impedance data to model oxidation of ethanol as well as the passivation of the electrode. The charge-transfer resistances for oxidation of these electrodes became smaller in the presence of ethanol than in its absence. The nickel substrate facilitated ethanol oxidation at $RuO_2-modified$ nickel electrodes. We also describe the Performance of nanosized electrocatalysts of the same composition in comparison to those of the bulk electrodes. The nanosized electrodes were obtained by electrode-positing the alloy from complexed form of these metal ions with fourth and fifth generation polyamidoamine dendrimers.