Nitrogen-rich mesoporous carbon derived from melamine with high electrocatalytic performance for oxygen reduction reaction Rongfang Wang a, * , Tiaobao Zhou a , Hao Li b , Hui Wang a , Hanqing Feng c , Jonathan Goh d , Shan Ji d, ** a Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment-Related Polymer Materials, Ministry of Education of China, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University, 967 Anning East Road, Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China b Department of Chemical Engineering, Huizhou University, Huizhou, Guangdong 516007, China c College of Life Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China d South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535, Cape Town, South Africa highlights graphical abstract  Nitrogen-rich mesoporous carbon derived from melamine (MNMC) is prepared.  MNMC shows good catalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction.  The good performance is derived the special structure. article info Article history: Received 29 December 2013 Received in revised form 7 March 2014 Accepted 17 March 2014 Available online 25 March 2014 Keywords: Mesopore Nitrogen-rich carbon Electrocatalyst Oxygen reduction reaction abstract Melamine-derived N-doped mesoporous carbon (MNMC) is synthesized by the pyrolysis of lysine and melamineunder at nitrogen atmosphere using ferric chloride as a dopant and SiO 2 nanoparticles as hard templates to form mesoporous architecture. The N content in the bulk of carbon materials is as high as 11.3% and ca. 40.6% of N is in the form of pyridinic-N. The surface area of MNMC is ca. 650 m 2 g 1 with a pore size distribution in the range of 2.2e34.5 nm. Compared to commercial Pt/C (20 wt%), MNMC ex- hibits much better electrocatalytic activity, better durability, and higher methanol tolerance for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline medium. Particularly, the onset ORR potential and half-wave ORR potential of MNMC are 1.059 and 0.871 V vs. RHE respectively, which are higher than those of com- mercial Pt/C. Ó 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Slow kinetics characteristic of the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction is one of the primary limitations for the commercialization of fuel cells [1e3]. To date, platinum based catalysts are still the best cathodic materials for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and are widely used in commercial fuel cells. However, the high cost, low durability, as well as the slow reduction kinetics of Pt-based * Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ86 931 7971533. ** Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ27 21 9599316. E-mail addresses: wrf38745779@126.com, wangrf@nwnu.edu.cn (R. Wang), sji@uwc.ac.za (S. Ji). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Power Sources journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jpowsour http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.03.057 0378-7753/Ó 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Journal of Power Sources 261 (2014) 238e244