The facile preparation of highly porous, manganese doped, sponge-like nickel materials by salt melt synthesis embedded into nitrogen doped carbon for electrocatalytic applications is shown. The incorporation of manganese into the porous structure enhances the nickel catalyst's activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline solution. The best catalyst demonstrates low onset overpotential (0.15 V) for the hydrogen evolution reaction along with high current densities at higher potentials. In addition, the possibility to alter the electrocatalytic properties of the materials from the hydrogen to oxygen evolution reaction by simple surface oxidation is shown. The surface area increases up to 1200 m(2) g(-1) after mild oxidation accompanied by the formation of nickel oxide on the surface. A detailed analysis shows a synergetic effect of the oxide formation and the material's surface area on the catalytic performance in the oxygen evolution reaction. In addition, the synthesis of cobalt doped sponge-like nickel materials is also delineated, demonstrating the generality of the synthesis. The facile salt melt synthesis of such highly porous metal based materials opens new possibilities for the fabrication of diverse electrode nanostructures for electrochemical applications.