Dopant–free edge–rich mesoporous carbon: Understanding the role of intrinsic carbon defects towards oxygen reduction reaction

• E–MC–1000 can be fabricated by a facile template–induced pyrolytic strategy. • E–MC–1000 possesses abundant intrinsic carbon defects. • Increasing pyrolytic temperature leads to decreased intrinsic carbon defects. • E–MC–1000 exhibits much better ORR performance than the counterparts. Except heteroatoms doping, intrinsic defects in carbon matrix exert a profound influence on the performance of carbon–based electrocatalysts, but the relevant understanding is limited. Herein, a template–induced pyrolytic strategy is proposed to prepare dopant–free edge–rich mesoporous carbon (E–MC–1000, 1000 represents pyrolytic temperature). The obtained E–MC–1000 with short–range ordered bent graphene–like nanosheets possesses abundant intrinsic carbon defects (including edge defects and sp 3 –type carbon), thus displaying favorable oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance. Obviously, our finding is valuable to understanding the role of intrinsic carbon defects towards ORR.