Tungsten carbide bears an analogy of the catalytic capability of noble metal Pt, and higher ability to resist very strong catalytic poisons, but its catalytic activity is much lower than that of noble metal. How to improve its catalytic activity is one of the difficult points and the hot topics in recent years. In order to find an approach to solve this problem, tungsten carbide/carbon nanotube composite was prepared through combination of surface decoration with in situ reduction and carbonization. The morphology and the crystal phase of the samples were characterized by XRD and HRTEM, respectively. Its electrocatalytic activ-ity was tested by powder-microelectrode in basic solution. The experimental results show that the sample is composed of tungsten carbide and carbon nanotube, and tungsten carbide is nanoscale irregular granule and grows on the surface of carbon nanotube homogeneously. The electrocatalytic activity of the composite for p-nitrophenol reduction is higher than that of granular tungsten carbide and tungsten carbide with mesoporous in basic solution. These results indicate that tungsten carbide decorating on the surface of carbon nanotube is one of the effective ways to improve its electrocatalytic activity.

Key words: tungsten carbide, carbon nanotube, composite, preparation, electro-property