Pt/XC-72 catalysts coated with N-doped carbon (denoted as Pt/XC-72@C-N) for the electro-oxidation of methanol are prepared through a combined microwave-assisted polyol with in-situ carbonization of N-doped carbon coating process using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), 1-vinyl-3-ethylimidazolium nitrate (VEIN) or 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide (EMID) ionic liquid as the N-doped carbon precursor. X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive of X-ray, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, cyclic voltammograms and accelerated aging test techniques are applied to characterize the structure and the electro-catalytic activity of the catalysts. The results show that the Pt particles with the average size of around 2.5 nm are highly dispersed in face-centered cubic crystal structure in the carbon support. The structure of the N-doped carbon coating precursor has considerable influence on the electro-catalytic performance of the catalysts. The resultant catalyst with EMID ionic liquid as the N-doped carbon source exhibits 115.9 m(2) g(-1)Pt electrochemical surface area (ESA) and 0.66 A mg(-1)Pt catalytic activity towards the electro-oxidation of methanol, which are 137 times the ESA and 1.35 times the catalytic activity of the PVP-derived catalyst, and 2.02 times the electrochemical surface area and 1.94 times the catalytic activity of the VEIN-derived catalyst. The appropriate amount of the EMID ionic liquid used in the catalyst synthesis process is around 10 uL for 100 mg XC-72 support so as to obtain the highest electro-catalytic activity. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.