Electrochemical energy conversion systems like fuel cells have aroused great expectations as a promising solution for the growing demand for clean and sustainable energy owing to their high efficiency and environmental friendliness. This study addresses the preparation and investigation of three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical porous plate on plate shaped NiCo2O4 arrays via hydrothermal method as a functional catalyst for ethanol/methanol oxidation reactions. The self-supported NiCo2O4 stacked nanoplates (SNps) exhibits improved electrocatalytic activities toward ethanol/methanol electrooxidation with higher currents compared to monometallic Co3O4 stacked nanosheets (SNs) and NiO nanosheets (Ns) based catalyst layers. In addition, the NiCo2O4 SNps displays excellent long term stabilities after 1000 consecutive cycles. These results are mainly attributed to the combined contribution of Co and Ni active sites and hierarchical mesoporous structure that favors the mass diffusion and electron transportation. This rational design of mesoporous NiCo(2)O(4 )SNps hybrid with fully exposed surfaces is expected to arouse a great deal. (C) 2018 The Electrochemical Society.