A pure nickel coating has been successfully plated on the surface of ultra fine Al2O3 particles via a facile electroless plating method. Coating morphology and crystallite size can be tailored by pH values. Dense coating with the maximum crystallite size of 24 nm was obtained at pH 11.0 and porous coating with the minimum crystallite size of 15 nm was obtained at pH value 12.5. The plated powders have been demonstrated to be an effective catalyst for growing boron nitride nanotubes. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.