Petrocoke carbon (PC) was prepared by pyrolysis of easily available byproduct of oil refining, petroleum coke. Thus-obtained PC not only possesses highly porous surface area, but also contains heteroatoms such as phosphate and sulfur in its framework. These properties make petrocoke carbon a good choice as a precursor for high performance aircathode catalyst. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) with PC as air-cathode catalyst produced a maximum power density of 1029.77 +/- 99.53 mW m(-2), which was higher than those with Pt/C cathodes or activated carbon cathodes. Furthermore, PC cathodes have comparable durability to activated carbon cathodes, demonstrating that the PC can be a low-cost and reliable alternative to precious-metal-based electrocatalysts for the air cathode in MFCs. Copyright (C) 2015, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.