Porous-organic-framework-templated nitrogen-rich porous carbon as a more proficient electrocatalyst than Pt/C for the electrochemical reduction of oxygen.

Porous nitrogen-rich carbon (POF-C-1000) that was synthesized by using a porous organic framework (POF) as a self-sacrificing host template in a nanocasting process possessed a high degree of graphitization in an ordered structural arrangement with large domains and well-ordered arrays of carbon sheets. POF-C-1000 exhibits favorable electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen-reduction reaction (ORR) with a clear positive shift of about 40 mV in the onset potential compared to that of a traditional, commercially available Pt/C catalyst. In addition, irrespective of its moderate surface area (785 m(2)  g(-1)), POF-C-1000 showed a reasonable H(2) adsorption of 1.6 wt % (77 K) and a CO(2) uptake of 3.5 mmol g(-1) (273 K).