Nitrogen-doped (N-doped) carbon, denoted as Fe-UF-CNx, is synthesized through nitridation of an iron-doped gel precursor on the Vulcan support. It exhibits a legitimate activity on catalyzing oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Its polarization curve, measured with a rotating disk electrode in O-2-saturated H2SO4, indicates Fe-UF-CNx has a widely distributed ORR activity and a high onset potential 0.859 V. The widely distributed activity originates from its complex nitrogen sites on the graphitic sheet, evidenced by the broad N1s spectrum of Fe-UF-CNx, which is featured with twin peaks of nearly equal intensity for pyridinic and pyrrolic nitrogens. The high onset potential suggests, despite an overall mediocre activity, the Fe-UF-CNx activity involves a small fraction of very active sites. When properly joining with the RuSe2 pyrite nanoparticles, the high potential active sites of Fe-UF-CNx uplift the ORR activity to the level of carbon-supported Pt catalyst. The platinum-level activity is manifested by a small half-wave potential difference 0.03-0.04 V between the joint catalyst of RuSe2-Fe-UF-CNx and the commercially available Pt/C catalyst. Additional merits of RuSe2-Fe-UF-CNx, such as high stability, methanol tolerance, low peroxide yield, are also measured and discussed. Copyright (C) 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.