TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The inorganic base is alkali metal carbonate, ammonium carbonate or tetraalkylammonium carbonate.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: Preparation (Claimed): Preparation of the electrocatalyst comprises (a) contacting a carbon support with a solution of an activating agent in a solvent, where the activating agent comprises at least one nitrogen-containing functional group, (b) optionally washing the product of step (a) one or more times, and (c) drying and heat treating the product of step (a) or step (b) under a non-oxidizing atmosphere to form the electrocatalyst. Preferred Components: The activated transition metal-free carbon support comprises a nitrogen-containing layer formed on a surface of it. The carbon support has a surface area of 10-2000 m2/g. The carbon support is BP2000, ECJ300 or ECJ300 graphitized at 2500 degrees C and Vulcan XC-72R (RTM: Carbon black). The nitrogen-containing functional group is amino, nitro or amino oxide. The activating agent is arylamine, alkylamine or heteroaryl amine, where the arylamine, alkylamine and heteroaryl amine comprises one or more amino groups, and the arylamine, alkylamine and heteroarylamine are independently substituted or unsubstituted. The activating agent is aniline, phenylenediamine, triethylenetetramine or diaminooctane. The base is an organic or inorganic base. The surfactant is an anionic, cationic or neutral surfactant. The cationic surfactant is cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. EXAMPLE - Phenylenediamine (0.89 g) and water (50 ml) were added to a 100 ml beaker. The beaker was heated to promote the dissolution of the o-phenylenediamine. The reaction mixture was then cooled to room temperature and added to a 1000 ml beaker. Carbon BP2000 (10 g) was added to the previous mixture to form a slurry, water (300 ml) was added to allow better stirring. Stirring was continued until a homogeneous mixture was formed. The mixture was allowed to rest overnight, where the mixture was washed with de-ionized water (300 ml, repeated twice) and the preparation was dried in an oven at 80 degrees C overnight. The dried material (11.2 g) was fired in a furnace under an argon atmosphere. After cooling, the resulting electrocatalyst (10.5 g) was collected.