In the present work, we report the syntheses of IrO2 nanoparticles with SBA-15 template (s-IrO2), and s-IrO2 supported Pt nanocomposite (Pt/s-IrO2) as bifunctional oxygen catalyst. Physical characterizations including X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy demonstrate that s-IrO2 catalyst has excellent uniformity and regularity in particle shape and much ordered distribution in geometric space, and Pt/s-IrO2 catalyst shows a uniform Pt dispersion on the surface of the s-1rO(2) particles. Electrochemical analyses prove that s-IrO2 catalyst possesses superior OER activity at operating potentials; and that Pt/s-IrO2 catalyst, in comparison to Pt/commercial IrO2, has higher ESA value and ORR catalytic performance with a mechanism of four-electron pathway and a high ORR efficiency. And as a bifunctional oxygen catalyst, Pt/s-IrO2 also exhibits more remarkable OER performance than the commercial one. The s-IrO2 nanopartides will be a promising active component (for OER), and suitable for Pt support (for ORR). (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.