N-doped carbon materials are extensively reported active toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Different from N-doped carbon, in this study, we report a kind of non-doped nitrogen, i.e., amide-groups, over carbon surface promoting the ORR activity of a CoOx/C-N composite. The amide-groups are successfully grafted over carbon surface (C-N) via a simple solvothermal route demonstrated by Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscope (XPS). After loaded cobalt oxide nanoparticles of around 2 nm in average, the amide-group grafting carbon shows enhanced activity toward the ORR compared to its counterparts with carboxyl-group or the pristine carbon. For the first time, as known, the CoOx/C composite is used as the cathodic catalyst for the Zn-air battery, and the peak power density reaches up to 100-123 mW cm(-2), demonstrating the promising practical application in Zn-air battery. The enhanced ORR activity of the CoOx/C-N composite is probably related with the higher content of CoO in the composite surface induced by the amide group over carbon surface. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.