ductivities of 244 and 329 S.cm(-1) and large surface area of 558 and 306 m(2).g(-1) are prepared by magnesium (Mg) triggered self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) using urea and fructose as precursors. Differing from traditional time-consuming calcination technique, the obtained samples are composed of porous and 3D structure with particle size of a few tens of nanometer. Such unique structure can lead to short diffusion paths of ions, abundant active sites for charge-transfer reactions and reasonable electrical/ionic conductivity. The rapid prepared and novel structure of N-CNSs and CNBs electrodes offer a satisfactory specific capacitance (124 and 84 F.g(-1) at 0.5 A.g(-1)), good rate performance (103 and 71 F.g(-1) at 10 A.g(-1)), and excellent cycling stability (96.2% and 98.6% after 8000 cycles). Most importantly, N-CNSs provides larger surface area and as much as 5.67 wt% of nitrogen incorporation, due to its high content of nitrogen in urea precursors. Thus, it presents higher specific capacitance of 47.6% than CNBs. Therefore, such particularly designed 3D porous carbon provides a promising strategy to ameliorate electrode materials for advanced energy storage systems. (c) 2018 The Electrochemical Society.