In this report, the chemical activation of mesoporous carbon derived from mesoporous polymer is used to prepare N-doped carbon materials with high surface area and narrow pores size distribution. The porous carbons derived from the activation of mesoporous carbon generally possess high surface area up to 2400 m(2) g(-1) and narrow micropores/super-micropore size distribution and exhibit H-2 uptake capacity of up to 4.8 wt% at - 196 degrees C and 20 bar and CO2 sorption capacity of up to 3.7 mmol g(-1) at 25 degrees C and 1 bar. The measured isosteric heat of adsorption for H-2 sorption is 10 kJ mol(-1) and 58 kJ mol(-1) for CO2 sorption, indicating a strong interaction between the carbon surface and adsorbed hydrogen and carbon dioxide respectively. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.