Nitrogen doped hierarchical activated carbons derived from polyacrylonitrile fibers for CO2 adsorption and supercapacitor electrodes

One-Pot Synthesis of N-Rich Porous Carbon for Efficient CO2 Adsorption Performance

N-enriched porous carbons have played an important part in CO₂ adsorption application thanks to their abundant porosity, high stability and tailorable surface properties while still suffering from a non-efficient and high-cost synthesis method. Herein, a series of N-doped porous carbons were prepared by a facile one-pot KOH activating strategy from commercial urea formaldehyde resin (UF). The textural properties and nitrogen content of the N-doped carbons were carefully controlled by the activating temperature and KOH/UF mass ratios. As-prepared N-doped carbons show 3D block-shaped morphology, the BET surface area of up to 980 m²/g together with a pore volume of 0.52 cm³/g and N content of 23.51 wt%. The optimal adsorbent (UFK-600-0.2) presents a high CO₂ uptake capacity of 4.03 mmol/g at 0 °C and 1 bar. Moreover, as-prepared N-doped carbon adsorbents show moderate isosteric heat of adsorption (43–53 kJ/mol), acceptable ideal adsorption solution theory (IAST) selectivity of 35 and outstanding recycling performance. It has been pointed out that while the CO₂ uptake was mostly dependent on the textural feature, the N content of carbon also plays a critical role to define the CO₂ adsorption performance. The present study delivers favorable N-doped carbon for CO₂ uptake and provides a promising strategy for the design and synthesis of the carbon adsorbents.

Heteroatom-Doped Metal-Free Carbon Nanomaterials as Potential Electrocatalysts

In recent years, heteroatom-incorporated specially structured metal-free carbon nanomaterials have drawn huge attention among researchers. In comparison to the undoped carbon nanomaterials, heteroatoms such as nitrogen-, sulphur-, boron-, phosphorous-, etc., incorporated nanomaterials have become well-accepted as potential electrocatalysts in water splitting, supercapacitors and dye-sensitized solar cells. This review puts special emphasis on the most popular synthetic strategies of heteroatom-doped and co-doped metal-free carbon nanomaterials, viz., chemical vapor deposition, pyrolysis, solvothermal process, etc., utilized in last two decades. These specially structured nanomaterials’ extensive applications as potential electrocatalysts are taken into consideration in this article. Their comparative enhancement of electrocatalytic performance with incorporation of heteroatoms has also been discussed.