Carbon porous materials (CPMs) with high surface areas up to 2660 m(2) g(-1), directly fabricated by a facile microwave-assisted route, were applied to the electrochemical detection of dopamine (DA). The CPM-modified electrodes exhibited excellent selectivity, a desirable detection limit (2.9 nM), and extraordinary sensitivity (2.56 mA μM(-1) cm(-2)) for detection of DA, even in the presence of large amounts of foreign species, such as ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA), making feasible the practical applications of these electrodes as DA sensors.