Mesoporous nickel phosphate nanotube (Meso NiPO NT) and mesoporous nickel phosphate nanosheet (Meso NiPO NS) are developed as catalysts for electrochemical methanol oxidation. Conventional mesoporous nickel phosphate which is composed of stacked nanocrystals (Meso NiPO), microporous VSB-5 and commercial nickel oxide (NiO) are used as control materials. Notably, both Meso NiPO NT (40.83 mA cm(-2)) and Meso NiPO NS (44.97 mA cm(-2)) exhibit much higher oxidation current density than VSB-5 (13.41 mA cm(-2)), Meso NiPO (19.85 mA cm(-2)) and commercial NiO (0.87 mA cm(-2)). As for the durability test on these materials modified fluorine-doped tin dioxide transparent conductive glass (FTO) electrodes, Meso NiPO NT displays the most stable performance and still retains 91.3% electrochemical activity, which perhaps benefit from its nanotube structure and large specific surface area (99.6 m(2)/g). Moreover, Meso NiPO NT has higher activity and more excellent stability than many of the previously reported nickel-based materials, suggesting a potential development for direct methanol fuel cells. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.