Bifunctional HNO3 catalytic synthesis of N-doped porous carbons for CO2 capture

Abstract

N-doped porous carbons have been successfully fabricated via a facile one-pot evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) method under acidic conditions. In this process, the used HNO₃ not only promoted polymerization as a catalyst, but also served as a nitrogen source. The as-resulted porous carbons possessed a high specific surface area and a high nitrogen content (up to 6.73 wt%) and consequently they exhibited excellent CO₂ capture performance. Particularly, the C_N-950 sample with a high surface area of 1979 m² g⁻¹ shows the highest CO₂ adsorption capacity of 4.30 mmol g⁻¹ at 298 K and 1 atm. Furthermore, it was observed that the C_N-950 sample exhibited a high selectivity for CO₂/N₂ separation, which is promising for industrial production.