For the first time, palladium nanoparticles supported on MWCNTs (multi-walled carbon nanotubes), denoted as Pd/MWCNTs, were prepared by a simple pyrolysis process of PdCl2 dissolved in room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMIBF4) rather than water. X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were used to characterize the structure of Pd/MWCNTs, and the results showed that Pd nanoparticles with highly crystalline structure and a diameter of around 4 nm were prepared, and more importantly, except for carbon and palladium no other elements were detected. The results obtained from a pyrolysis process only containing PdCl2 and EMIBF4 testified that in our developed pyrolysis process. EMIBF4 was used not only as ligands, to form a novel complex, but also as a reducing agent, to reduce Pd2+. The electrocatalytic performance of Pd/MWCNTs-modified glassy carbon electrode towards ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) was also probed by cycle voltammetry (CV), demonstrating that it was possible to utilize the obtained Pd/MWCNTs as anode materials in fuel cell. Initiating the application of RTILs in the pyrolysis process and finding that EMIBF4 could be employed as ligands and reducing agents are the main contributions of this preliminary work. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.