Herein, we present a facile approach for the synthesis of polymeric ionic liquids (PILs) microspheres for metal scavenging and catalysis. Crosslinked poly(1-butyl-3-vinylimidazolium bromide) microspheres with the diameter of about 200 nm were synthesized via miniemulsion polymerization, in which 1,4-di(vinylimidazolium) butane bisbromide was added as the crosslinker. Anion exchange of PIL microspheres with Pt precursor and followed by the reduction of Pt ions produced PIL microsphere supported Pt nanoparticle hybrids. The synthesized Pt nanoparticles with a diameter of about 2 nm are uniformly dispersed and strongly bound to the surface of PIL microspheres. The catalytic performances of PIL/Pt nanoparticle hybrids were evaluated for both the electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol and oxidation of benzyl alcohol. The PIL/Pt nanoparticle hybrids show better electrocatalytic activity towards the electrooxidation of methanol than pure Pt nanoparticles. Furthermore, they are effective and easily reusable catalysts for the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol in aqueous reaction media, demonstrating that the synthesized PIL microspheres are suitable scaffolds for heterogeneous catalysts Pt. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 49: 4531-4538, 2011