In this work, nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon materials (NHPCs) are prepared by a two-step method combined of a hard template process and KOH-activation treatment. Low cost and large-scale commercial nano-SiO2 are used as a hard template. The hierarchical porosity, structure and nitrogendoped surface chemical properties are proved by a varies of means, such as scanning electron microscopy, transition electron microscopy, N-2 sorption, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. When the prepared NHPCs materials are used as the electrode materials for supercapacitors in KOH electrolyte, they exhibit very high specific capacitance, good power capability and excellent cyclic stability. NHPC-800 carbon shows a high capacitance of 114.0 F g(-1) at the current density of 40 Ag-1, responding to a high energy and power densities of 4.0Whkg(-1) and 10 000Wkg(-1), and a very short drain time of 1.4 s. The excellent capacitive performance may be due to the synergistic effect of the hierarchical porosity, high effective surface area and heteroatom doping, resulting in both electrochemical double layer and Faradaic capacitance contributions. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.