An efficient preparation of N-doped mesoporous carbon derived from milk powder for supercapacitors and fuel cells

N-doped mesoporous carbon was prepared by a one-step method of pyrolyzing the mixture of milk powder and potassium hydroxide without templates. The N-doped mesoporous carbon (NMPC) with microporous and mesoporous had a specific surface area of 2145.5 m2 g−1 and a pore volume of 1.25 cm3 g−1. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed that the nitrogen content of NMPC was 2.5 at%. The NMPC exhibited a high specific capacitance (396.5 F g−1 at 0.2 A g−1) and excellent stability (capacitance retention of 95.9% after 2000 cycles at 50 mV s−1) as a supercapacitor electrode material. Moreover, the NMPC as a fuel cell cathode catalyst also showed effective activity for oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline solution. The results demonstrate that the NMPC is a promising electrode material for supercapacitors and fuel cells.