Polyfiyrrole modified carbon supported CoOOH electrocatalyst (CoOOH-PPy-C) is prepared by impregnation-chemical method, and the catalytic properties for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline media are investigated. The X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy results confirm the presence of the expected CoOOH. The electrochemical tests show that the CoOOH-PPy-C catalyst exhibits good electrocatalytic activity towards ORR. The direct borohydride fuel cell using CoOOH-PPy-C as the cathode catalyst demonstrates a good stability performance. There is only 4% decrease of the cell voltage after 80-h operation. The ORR occurs an average 4-electron transfer pathway on the CoOOH-PPy-C catalyst. The good catalytic activity towards ORR benefits from the Co-N bond, which is identified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy test. X-ray absorption fine structure experiments further show that two nearest O atoms are substituted by two N atoms bonding to Co ion at a distance of 1.64 angstrom. The CoOOH-PPy-C exhibits better electrochemical properties than the Co(OH)(2) counterpart even though the valence state of Co ion is +3 in CoOOH-PPy-C. Those results indicate that the bonding of Co ion with N atoms should be a key issue regardless the valence of Co ion. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.