Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) plays a key role in the application of fuel cells. Here, we used shaddock peel to fabricate a set of N, P dual-doped hierarchical porous carbons, abbreviated as NPSPs, where the carbons were carbonized, activated and dual-doped via a simple one-step pyrolyzation. Contrast results indicate the contents of pyridinic-N, graphitic-N and P-C species increase with the rising of temperatures, and the temperature also affects the degree of graphitization, surface area, morphology, thus influences the ORR performance. More importantly, the NPSP-900 demonstrates an outstanding ORR activity with a comparable half-wave potential (0.83 V vs. RHE) and higher current density with respect to commercial Pt/C, following 4e transfer pathway. Our work illustrates that NPSP-900 is a promising cathode for fuel cells because of its simple preparation, waste utilization, excellent ORR performance, good methanol tolerance and superior stability. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.