In classic carbon supports is very difficult to control pore size, pore size distribution, and surface chemical properties at the same time. In this work microporous carbons derived from furfuryl alcohol are used as support to prepare Ni-doped carbon materials. The N-2 flow rate used during the carbonisation process of the precursor influences on the size of the nanospheres obtained but not in their textural properties. Microporous carbon nanospheres have been synthesised with a narrow pore size distribution centred in 5.5 angstrom. The surface chemistry of these materials can be easily modified by different treatments without detriment of the pore structure of the doped carbon nanospheres. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.