A scalable molecular-templating strategy toward well-defined microporous carbon aerogels for efficient water treatment and electrocatalysis

[Display omitted] •Microporous carbon aerogels was prepared by a molecular-templating strategy.•The POSS-NH2 provides precise molecular-scale templating and beneficial N doping.•The removal of silica templates resulted in well-defined micropores in MPCAs.•MPCAs can efficiently remove aromatic pollutants with different hydrophobicity.•Fe-N-C decorated MPCAs showed outstanding catalytic activity as ORR catalyst. Carbon aerogels have attracted increasing research interest in a wide range of potential applications owing to their unique structural features, yet the scalable preparation of carbon aerogels configured by nanoporous carbon skeletons with high surface area and precise pore structure is a great challenge. Herein, we report a molecular-scale interface engineering concept for high-throughput and scalable production of well-defined microporous carbon aerogels (MPCAs) based on simple and fast polycondensation (