To develop more efficient metal-free cathode electrocatalysts for fuel cells, novel arsenic (As)-doped, As and N-codoped carbon nanotubes are synthesized by chemical vapor deposition in this work. The as prepared As-containing carbon nanotubes exhibit significantly enhanced activity and long-term durability for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline medium, indicating that the doping of As or codoping As with other heteroatoms into carbon matrix could improve the ORR activity of carbon materials due to the changes in electronic and physical properties of carbon nanotubes evidenced by density functional theory calculations. Moreover, As-containing carbon nanotubes also display much better methanol tolerance, showing a good potential application for future fuel cells. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.