Nitrogen doped porous carbon hollow spheres (N-PCHSs) with an ultrahigh nitrogen content of 15.9 wt% and a high surface area of 775 m(2) g(-1) were prepared using Melamine-formaldehyde nanospheres as hard templates and nitrogen sources. The N-PCHSs were completely characterized and were found to exhibit considerable CO2 adsorption performance (4.42 mmol g(-1)).