High-performance Fe-based nitrogen-doped carbon oxygen reduction catalysts have been widely reported, but the Fenton reaction faced by such catalysts has hindered their practical application in fuel cells. The development of inexpensive, effective, and durable non-Fe nitrogen-doped carbon electrocatalysts is important for advancing fuel cell technology. In this work, we have introduced a molecular coordination chemistry method to synthesize a Cu- and P-co-doped nitrogen-doped hierarchical carbon (Cu-P-N-C) oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst by pyrolyzing a mixture of phytate and melamine. The refined Cu-P-N-C material showcased a three-dimensional, porous, interconnected nanosheet structure with an ultra-high specific surface area and an abundance of active sites. The Cu-P-N-C catalyst displayed a half-wave potential (