In the work presented here, an attempt is made to study the effect of different carbon supports on the mesostructural properties as well as electrochemical behaviour of Pt/carbon supports. In this respect, the functionalised samples have been synthesised by using CMK-3, nickelocene as nickel source and the chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process for growth of carbon nanotubes. The platinum catalysts (Pt 20 wt.%) were obtained through a conventional wet impregnation method. All the materials have been characterised by XRD (small- and high-) angle, N-2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and high-resolution field emission scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the mesostructural structure had been partially destroyed by functionalisation of CMK-3 with NiO and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Moreover, wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXRD) studies revealed the formation of smaller platinum crystallite sizes compared to Vulcan-supported samples. Furthermore, electrochemical evaluation indicates that CMK-3-CNT-20Pt gives a specific surface area of 58.9 m(2) g(-1). Finally, the polarisation curves for the fabricated membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) with Pt loading of 0.5 mg cm(-2) demonstrated that the CMK-3-CNT-20Pt catalyst shows better performance than industrial catalysts and even Vulcan-40% Pt. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.