In-situ synthesis of heteroatom co-doped mesoporous dominated carbons as efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction

•In-situ synthesizing N/B, N/P and N/S co-doped mesoporous dominated carbons.•NB-C-3, NP-C-2 and NS-C-4 all exhibit outstanding ORR electrocatalytic activity.•The order of ORR performance is as follows: NS-C-4 > NP-C-2 > NB-C-3≈Pt/C. Developing high-performance and low-cost oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts plays a significant role in the practical application of energy-related devices. Herein, heteroatom (N/B, N/P and N/S) co-doped mesoporous dominated carbons are in-situ synthesized through a facile method. As-prepared NB-C-3, NP-C-2 and NS-C-4 all exhibit outstanding ORR electrocatalytic performance via 4e− pathway in neutral medium (50 mM PBS). Moreover, NS-C-4 (onset potential: 0.769 V (vs. RHE), half-wave potential: 0.613 V (vs. RHE)) possesses more excellent ORR activity than that of NB-C-3 and NP-C-2, and even than that of the commercial Pt/C catalysts. Notably, the cost of raw material (soybean) for these carbons is 2.15 × 10−3 $ g−1, which is nearly a hundred thousand times cheaper than that of Pt/C catalysts (20 wt%, 220.04 $ g−1). Therefore, NB-C-3, NP-C-2 and NS-C-4 should be promising ORR catalysts to replace Pt/C catalysts in the application of energy conversion and storage. Heteroatom (N/B, N/P and N/S) in-situ co-doped mesoporous dominated carbons all exhibit outstanding ORR activity in neutral medium. [Display omitted]