Ordered mesoporous carbon nitrides with graphitic frameworks as metal-free, highly durable, methanol-tolerant oxygen reduction catalysts in an acidic medium

Developments of high-performance cost-effective electrocatalyts that can replace Pt catalysts have been a central theme in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). In this direction, nitrogen-doped carbon nanostructures free of metallic components have attracted particular attention. Here we show that directing graphitic carbon nitride frameworks into mesoporous architecture can generate a highly promising metal-free electrocatalyst for an oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in an acidic medium. The ordered mesoporous carbon nitride (OMCN) was synthesized with a nanocasting strategy using ordered mesoporous silica as a template. A variety of characterizations revealed that the OMCN is constructed with graphitic carbon nitride frameworks and ordered arrays of uniform mesopores. The OMCN showed significantly enhanced electrocatalytic activity for ORR compared to bulk carbon nitride and ordered mesoporous carbon in terms of the current density and onset potential. A high surface area and an increased density of catalytically active nitrogen groups in the OMCN appear to contribute concomitantly to the enhanced performance of the OMCN. Furthermore, the OMCN exhibited superior durability and methanol tolerance to a Pt/C catalyst, suggesting its widespread utilization as an electrocatalyst for PEMFCs and DMFCs.     

Soft‐Templating Synthesis of N‐Doped Mesoporous Carbon Nanospheres for Enhanced Oxygen Reduction Reaction

The development of ordered mesoporous carbon materials with controllable structures and improved physicochemical properties by doping heteroatoms such as nitrogen into the carbon framework has attracted a lot of attention, especially in relation to energy storage and conversion. Herein, a series of nitrogen‐doped mesoporous carbon spheres (NMCs) was synthesized via a facile dual soft‐templating procedure by tuning the nitrogen content and carbonization temperature. Various physical and (electro)chemical properties of the NMCs have been comprehensively investigated to pave the way for a feasible design of nitrogen‐containing porous carbon materials. The optimized sample showed a favorable electrocatalytic activity as evidenced by a high kinetic current and positive onset potential for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) due to its large surface area, high pore volume, good conductivity, and high nitrogen content, which make it a highly efficient ORR metal‐free catalyst in alkaline solutions.     

Utilization of Environmentally Benign Dicyandiamide as a Precursor for the Synthesis of Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Nitride and its Application in Base‐Catalyzed Reactions

Assisted by a new dissolution procedure, dicyandiamide (DCDA), an environmentally benign and cheap precursor, has been employed for the synthesis of mesoporous carbon nitride (CN) materials through a nanocasting approach. The synthesized mesoporous materials possessed high specific surface areas (269–715 m² g^?1) with narrow pore‐size distributions (about 5 nm) and faithfully replicated the mesostructures of the SBA‐15 and FDU‐12 templates. Several characterization techniques, including XRD, SAXS, TEM, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy, XPS, and CO₂‐TPD, were used to analyze the physicochemical properties of these materials and the results showed that the mesoporous CND materials had graphitic‐like structures and consisted of CN heterocycles, as well as amino groups. In a series of Knoevenagel condensation reactions, as exemplified by the reaction of various aldehydes and nitriles, these mesoporous CND materials demonstrated high and stable catalytic activities, owing to an abundance of basic sites.     

Electrical double-layer capacitor performance of nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous carbon prepared by nanotemplating method

In this work, the electrical double-layer capacitive properties of nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous carbons (N-OMCs) were investigated. Ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) with 3D body-centered Ia3d structure has been prepared by KIT-6 mesoporous silica as a hard template with aniline for N-OMC and sucrose for Su-OMC as a carbon precursor. Using the different carbon precursor, moderate amounts of nitrogen atoms could be doped to the OMC structures. The obtained materials were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption isotherms at 77 K, elemental analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Prepared OMCs had mesopore properties such as a high surface area with narrow pore-size distribution. From cyclic voltammograms (CVs) test, N-OMC compared to Su-OMC exhibit higher capacitance and fast charge/discharge characteristics, which results from their pseudo-capacitive effect of incorporated nitrogen atoms. It was thought that N-OMC prepared by the nanotemplating method with KIT-6 and aniline were suitable electrode materials for electrical double-layer capacitors.     

有序介孔碳的微波快速合成和表面修饰及其负载性能

以低聚合度酚醛树脂为碳源、三嵌段共聚物F127(Mw=12600,PEO106PPO70PEO106)为模板导向剂,以微波辐照替代传统的烘箱热聚合,在常见功率下(400～800W)快速(15～60min)聚合,并高温碳化获得介孔碳。XRD、TEM、低温N2吸脱附等测试表明所得样品具有高度有序的介孔结构,比表面积和孔容分别可达614m2·g-1和0.47cm3·g-1。合成的介孔碳经NaBH4和胶体钯溶液两步修饰处理,表面被活化并沉积了Pd颗粒,导电性和亲水性均得到改善,载Pt的量和分散性明显提高,Pt/C催化剂的电化学活性面积由4m2·g-1增加到29m2·g-1。     

石墨相氮化碳纳米管的合成及光催化产氢性能

通过硬模板法,采用氰胺前驱物和二氧化硅纳米管(SiO₂-NTs)模板,合成石墨相氮化碳纳米管(CN-NTs)光催化剂。采用扫描电镜(SEM)、透射电镜(TEM)、X射线粉末衍射(XRD)、傅立叶变换红外光谱(FT-IR)、氮气吸附/脱附测试、紫外可见漫反射光谱(UV-Vis DRS)、荧光光谱、热重分析(TGA)等手段对CN-NTs催化剂的结构与性能进行表征。结果表明,CN-NTs的化学组成是石墨相氮化碳(g-C₃N₄),形貌为均匀的纳米管,且是介孔材料。与体相氮化碳(B-CN)和介孔石墨相氮化碳(mpg-CN)相比,CN-NTs的光吸收带边蓝移到440 nm,荧光发射谱的峰强减弱。在可见光(λ>420 nm)照射下,CN-NTs具有较高的光催化分解水活性,产氢速率为58 μmol/h,且表现出良好的光催化活性稳定性和化学结构稳定性。研究结果表明纳米管状结构能有效促进g-C₃N₄半导体激子解离,提高光生电子-空穴的分离效率,进而显著优化g-C₃N₄的光催化产氢性能。     

A facile soft-template synthesis of nitrogen doped mesoporous carbons for hydrogen sulfide removal

A series of nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbons (NMCs) were prepared using Pluronic F127 as a structure directing agent, phloroglucinol and formaldehyde as carbon precursor and dicyandiamide as nitrogen source. The obtained nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbons possess high nitrogen content of 6.37–19.28 wt%. Due to the feature of high nitrogen contents, NMCs show superior H₂S adsorption performance with breakthrough sulfur capacity of 0.48 mmol g^?1 at room temperature and ambient pressure. It is revealed that in addition to the nitrogen content, nitrogen configuration and porosity of the carbon materials also influence significantly their sulfur capacity. This work offers a facile strategy for the synthesis of porous carbon materials with excellent performance in the adsorptive removal of H₂S.     

ZIF-67衍生的Ag/Co@NC材料及其氧还原性能的研究

氮掺杂的多孔碳材料可作为氧还原反应的催化剂,本文借助ZIF-67富氮多孔的特殊结构,采用湿式逐步还原法将Ag嵌入ZIF-67孔腔内,然后在Ar中碳化成功地制备了Ag/Co双金属嵌入的氮掺杂的多孔碳复合材料（Ag/Co@NC）作为氧还原反应的催化剂. 为了证明Ag的突出作用,同时在Ar中碳化了ZIF-67制备了Co嵌入的氮掺杂的多孔碳材料（Co@NC）. 利用扫描电子显微镜、透射电子显微镜、X射线衍射、X射线光电子能谱以及比表面积分析对材料的显微形貌、物相组成、结构进行分析,采用循环伏安和线性扫描极化曲线对材料的氧还原催化活性和催化稳定性进行研究. 结果表明,Ag的嵌入未改变ZIF-67的晶体结构,但是大大提高了材料的氧还原催化活性. Ag/Co@NC材料的半波电位和起始电位均高于Co@NC材料,且其在1000次循环伏安测试前后的半波电位变化仅为30 mV,显示出很好的催化稳定性和甲醇耐受性,可作为燃料电池和金属-空气电池的阴极催化剂.     

氮掺杂有序介孔碳负载超小尺寸铂纳米颗粒催化硝基苯类化合物选择加氢

氮掺杂有序介孔碳材料不仅具有高的比表面积、大的孔容和均一可调的孔径等优点,其骨架中丰富的氮原子还可以对材料的物理化学性质、配位金属电荷密度等进行调控,是一类优异的催化剂载体.本文利用软模板(嵌段共聚物F127为模板),以间氨基苯酚为碳源和氮前体,制备出较高含氮量(9.58 wt%)和比表面积(417 m2/g),以及规则孔径分布的介孔碳材料.结果表明,制备的材料具有三维立方相结构.以该碳材料作为载体,使用传统浸渍氢气还原的策略负载纳米铂颗粒.发现氮掺杂的载体能够有效控制金属纳米颗粒的尺寸,可实现超小尺寸Pt纳米颗粒的有效负载(1.0±0.5 nm),且纳米颗粒均匀分布于介孔碳材料的孔道中.相比而言,使用相同负载方法的情况下,以不掺氮的介孔碳材料为载体,纳米粒子的尺寸较难控制(4.4±1.7 nm)且会发生孔道外颗粒聚集的情况.研究表明,骨架中的氮原子与金属间弱的相互作用对纳米粒子有稳定作用.这对制备超小尺寸的金属纳米粒子催化剂具有一定的指导意义.此外,由于纳米粒子的尺寸将大大影响催化剂活性中心的暴露程度,进而影响催化剂活性.因此,我们以硝基苯类化合物的氢化反应来评价该催化剂的催化性能.在室温和1 MPa H2的温和条件下,氮掺杂的介孔碳负载催化剂表现出了优异的催化性能.反应0.5 h,对氯硝基苯可完全转化,且选择性高达99%.相比而言,商业化的Pt/C催化剂上反应的转化率和选择性分别为89%和90%.其它传统催化剂的比较,如Pt/SiO2,Pt/TiO2,同样表明,氮掺杂介孔碳负载的催化剂具有更优异的催化性能.在相同反应条件下,Pt/SiO2催化剂只能得到46%的转化率和93%的选择性,而Pt/TiO2催化剂虽然能够实现完全转化,但选择性也仅为91%.由此可见,氮掺杂的负载催化剂可大大提高反应活性和选择性,能有效抑制脱氯现象的发生.这种高的催化性能可能与催化剂的介孔结构、氮功能化载体以及超小尺寸的Pt纳米粒子的稳定有关.由于氮原子和介孔孔道的限域作用,氮掺杂介孔碳负载的催化剂也具有良好的催化稳定性,循环使用10次后,催化活性和选择性几乎没有下降.结果表明,循环使用后的催化剂金属粒子尺寸变化不大,进一步表明氮掺杂介孔碳载体对金属纳米颗粒的稳定作用.     

Synthesis and characterization of nanocast silica NCS-1 with CMK-3 as a template

Nanocast silica (NCS-1) was synthesized by a casting process by employing the mesoporous carbon CMK-3 (the replica of SBA-15) as a template, tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as the silica source, and hydrochloric acid (HCl) as the catalyst. The ordered carbon template was removed by employing different methods, such as calcination, thermal treatment followed by calcination, and controlled combustion. According to XRD and TEM characterization, NCS-1 exhibits an ordered structure with hexagonal symmetry and retains the morphology of the original SBA-15 used for the synthesis of CMK-3 over two replication steps on the nanometer scale. This demonstrates the well-connected porosity in CMK-3 type carbon, which can be used as a mold to synthesize mesostructured materials. The nitrogen adsorption isotherms generally show type IV shape, indicating mesoporous characteristics. The structure of NCS-1 is strongly influenced by variables of the nanocasting process, such as the loading amount of silica, hydrolysis temperature, and carbon removal methods. The surface area, pore size, and pore volume of NCS-1 can be tuned to a certain range by varying these parameters.     

Effect of Structure and Pore Size of Mesoporous Molecular Sieve Materials on the Growth of Carbon Nanotubes

Microporous and mesoporous molecular sieve materials with different channel structures and pore sizes were applied as supports for Fe-loaded catalysts to catalytically synthesize carbon nanotubes. The deposited carbon materials were characterized by the TEM technique. It was shown that the structures and pore sizes of supports greatly influence the forms and quality of the deposited carbon materials. The larger the pore size of the support used, the larger the diameter and pore size of the carbon nanotubes formed. It seems that the growth of carbon nanotubes can be orientated by the one-dimensional mesoporous structure of hexagonal mesoporous molecular sieve materials.     

简易模板法制备有序介孔碳

通过一种简易的模板法制备了有序介孔碳,即硅/P123三嵌段共聚物复合物经硫酸处理后,再加入蔗糖碳源经碳化和除硅处理合成出有序介孔碳。该方法与传统硬模板相比,其合成工序简单,成本更低;与其他简化合成方法相比,避免了由碳源不足而造成的介孔碳有序性低的缺点。通过小角XRD、N2吸脱附和HRTEM对样品及其中间过程进行了表征。结果表明,自晶化过程后,样品在合成的各个时期均保持着有序的介孔结构,当蔗糖添加量为1.5g时合成出的介孔碳材料有序性最高,比表面积和孔容也最高,分别为1261m2·g-1,1.03cm3·g-1。     

Upper Limit of Nitrogen Content in Carbon Materials

Nitrogen‐doped carbon materials (NDCs) play an important role in various fields. A great deal of effort has been devoted to obtaining carbon materials with a high nitrogen content; however, much is still unknown about the structure of the nitrogen‐doped materials and the maximum nitrogen content possible for such compounds. Here, we demonstrate an interesting relationship between the N/C molar ratio and the N content of NDCs. The upper limit for the nitrogen content of NDCs that might be achieved was estimated and found to strongly depend on the carbonization temperature (14.32 wt % at 1000 °C and 21.66 wt % at 900 °C), irrespective of the precursor or preparation conditions. Simulations suggest that, especially in the carbon architectures obtained at high temperatures, nitrogen atoms are always located on separate hexagon moieties in a graphitic configuration, thereby yielding a critical N/C molar ratio very close to the value estimated from the experimental results.     

有序中孔炭的电化学储氢性能

将蔗糖、聚环氧乙烯-聚环氧丙烯-聚环氧乙烯三嵌段共聚物和硅源构成的复合物进行预炭化、炭化和除硅处理合成出有序中孔炭, 采用XRD、TEM、HRTEM和N2吸脱附等手段对其进行表征, 并将有序中孔炭制成电极开展恒流充放电储氢性能研究. 结果显示, 具有较高比表面积(720 m2·g-1)和孔容(0.86 cm3·g-1)的有序中孔炭材料的电化学储氢容量为70.1 mAh·g-1, 高于具有相对较低比表面积(610 m2·g-1)和孔容(0.66 cm3·g-1)的有序中孔炭储氢容量(64.1 mAh·g-1). 通过与单壁碳纳米管电极(25.9 mAh·g-1)的对比, 表明有序中孔炭具有良好的电化学储氢性能和更高的电化学活性.     

Carbon Nanotube@N‐Doped Mesoporous Carbon Composite Material for Supercapacitor Electrodes

Here, carbon nanotube@N‐doped mesoporous carbon (CNT@N‐PC) composites were synthesized by using resorcinol‐formaldehyde resin as carbon source, ionic liquids (ILs) as template, and nitrogen sources and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as assistant agent. The use of ILs‐modified CNT with nitrogen and TEOS facilitated the generation of a richer mesoporous structure. The obtained CNT@N‐PC was composed of a CNT core and mesoporous carbon particles around it. CNT@N‐PC showed a 3D network structure like “dewy cobwebs” and had a high surface area of 857 m² g^?1, uniform pore size distribution (3.0 nm), and suitable N content (4.9 at.%). When used as supercapacitor electrode, the CNT@N‐PC exhibited a high specific capacitance (244 F g^?1 at 1 A g^?1), good rate capability and favorable capacitance retention (92.5 % capacitive retention after 5000 cycles), demonstrating the potential for application in high‐performance supercapacitors.     

硬模板法合成磁性石墨化介孔碳及在中药废水吸附处理中的应用

以SBA-15为模板, 蔗糖为碳源, 硝酸铁辅助催化合成磁性石墨化介孔碳复合材料(Fe/GMC). 利用X射线粉末衍射(XRD)、透射电子显微镜(TEM)、N₂吸附-脱附(BET)、拉曼光谱等对反应产物进行了表征. 硝酸铁辅助催化可以在较低碳化温度(900℃)下实现介孔碳的部分石墨化, 并同步生成磁性Fe₃O₄颗粒, 合成的产物比表面积大、孔道有序、磁性强. 运用紫外-可见(UV-Vis)光谱考察了该复合材料对中药红花色素废水的吸附特性,复合材料的吸附速率快、吸附量高, 具有良好的脱色效果并能实现吸附剂的快速固液磁分离.     

壳聚糖基多孔碳材料的制备及其超级电容性能

以胶态SiO₂纳米粒子为模板,壳聚糖为碳源,ZnCl2为活化剂,制备了具有不同比表面积和孔体积的氮掺杂介孔碳。采用多种表征手段对碳材料的微观形貌、比表面积和孔道结构进行了表征,探究了壳聚糖与SiO₂纳米粒子的比例以及ZnCl2活化剂对碳材料孔体积和比表面积的影响。结果表明,在未使用活化剂时碳材料(CSi-1.75)的孔体积高达4.53 cm³·g^-1,但其比表面积最小(729 m²·g^-1);使用ZnCl₂作为活化剂制备的碳材料(CSi-1.75-Zn)比表面积为1032 m²·g^-1,但其孔体积下降到1.99 cm³·g^-1,且具有最多的吡啶氮和吡咯氮。在以6.0 mol·L^-1 KOH为电解液的三电极体系中,当电流密度为0.5 A·g^-1时,CSi-1.75-Zn的比电容为344 F·g^-1,而CSi-1.75的比电容仅为255 F·g^-1。这表明碳材料的比表面积对超级电容性能影响最大,而孔体积影响较小。电容贡献分析结果表明,相对于CSi-1.75,CSi-1.75-Zn的双电层电容和赝电容都得到了提高,这表明更大的比表面积和更多的吡啶氮和吡咯氮有利于提高碳材料的超级电容性能。     

磁性有序介孔炭的制备及药物吸附行为研究

采用纳米共铸法将磁性纳米粒子包埋到有序介孔炭的骨架中, 制成含有磁性纳米粒子的有序介孔炭(Fe/OMCs). 实验通过氮气吸附、扫描电镜、X射线衍射、磁性测试等手段对Fe/OMCs进行了系统的表征. 研究表明, Fe/OMCs基本保持了有序介孔结构, 磁性粒子在材料中以纳米α-Fe粒子的形式存在, 并且具有超顺磁特性. 盐酸四环素(TH)在Fe/OMCs上的吸附研究表明, Fe/OMCs的介孔表面积和介孔孔容是决定TH吸附量的关键因素. 脱附动力学研究表明, Fe/OMCs的孔尺寸是影响脱附速率的关键因素, 孔径越大, TH的脱附速率就越大.     

Preparation of high-surface-area zinc oxide with ordered porosity, different pore sizes, and nanocrystalline walls

Transition-metal-oxide materials possessing ordered mesoporosity have recently attracted significant research interest due to their numerous potential applications. Among them, ordered mesoporous zinc oxide (ZnO) is a very tempting material because of the importance of ZnO in heterogeneous catalysis. Here, first results of the preparation of ordered mesoporous ZnO materials by using different templates are reported. Porous materials with high surface area, different pore sizes, and nanocrystalline ZnO walls were obtained. Furthermore, we compare the two fundamental templating techniques, involving liquid crystals or ordered mesoporous carbon materials as templates. Regarding the formation of mesoporous ZnO, it was evident that the hard-matter carbon template is superior.     

Ordered mesoporous platinum@graphitic carbon embedded nanophase as a highly active, stable, and methanol-tolerant oxygen reduction electrocatalyst

Highly ordered mesoporous platinum@graphitic carbon (Pt@GC) composites with well-graphitized carbon frameworks and uniformly dispersed Pt nanoparticles embedded within the carbon pore walls have been rationally designed and synthesized. In this facile method, ordered mesoporous silica impregnated with a variable amount of Pt precursor is adopted as the hard template, followed by carbon deposition through a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process with methane as a carbon precursor. During the CVD process, in situ reduction of Pt precursor, deposition of carbon, and graphitization can be integrated into a single step. The mesostructure, porosity and Pt content in the final mesoporous Pt@GC composites can be conveniently adjusted over a wide range by controlling the initial loading amount of Pt precursor and the CVD temperature and duration. The integration of high surface area, regular mesopores, graphitic nature of the carbon walls as well as highly dispersed and spatially embedded Pt nanoparticles in the mesoporous Pt@GC composites make them excellent as highly active, extremely stable, and methanol-tolerant electrocatalysts toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). A systematic study by comparing the ORR performance among several carbon supported Pt electrocatalysts suggests the overwhelmingly better performance of the mesoporous Pt@GC composites. The structural, textural, and framework properties of the mesoporous Pt@GC composites are extensively studied and strongly related to their excellent ORR performance. These materials are highly promising for fuel cell applications and the synthesis method is quite applicable for constructing mesoporous graphitized carbon materials with various embedded nanophases.