A typical heteroatom (nitrogen)-doped carbon materials were successfully synthesized through the carbonization of a hybrid containing traditional carbon black covered by in situ polymerized polyaniline. The nitrogen content onto carbon can be adjusted up to 5.1 at.% by changing the coverage of polyaniline. The effects of nitrogen doping on the Surface physical and electrochemical properties of carbon were studied using XPS, XRD and HRTEM, as well as CV and EIS techniques. With increasing nitrogen doping, the carbon structure became more compact, showing curvatures and dislocations in the graphene stacking. The nitrogen-doped carbon also exhibited a higher accessible surface area in electrochemical reactions, and a lower charge transfer resistance at the carbon/electrolyte interface. Moreover, to investigate the influence of nitrogen doping on the electrocatalytic activity of the PtRu/C catalyst, comparisons in CO stripping and methanol oxidation were carried out on PtRu catalysts supported by non-doped and nitrogen -doped carbon. Since the promotional roles of nitrogen doping, including the high electrochemically accessible Surface area, the richness of the disordered nanostructures and defects, and the high electron density on N-doped carbon supports, contribute to the synthesis of well-dispersed PtRu particles with high Pt utilization and stronger metal-support interactions, an enhanced catalytic activity for methanol oxidation was obtained in the case of the PtRu/N-C catalyst in comparison with the traditional PtRu/C catalyst. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.