Self-templated synthesis of boron-doped porous carbon by chemical interaction of 2LiBH4•CO2 with CO2

The realization of heteroatom doping can enable carbon functional materials to have superior physiochemical properties via tailoring electron and ion distribution. However, the facile synthesis of heteroatom-doped carbon materials without CO2 emission from precursor is a major challenge for low-carbon utilization of carbon ma-terials. Herein, we report a facile self-templated method to synthesize boron-doped porous carbon derived from CO2 based on the new reactions of 2LiBH4 center dot CO2 with CO2. Boron-doped porous carbon is produced via a consecutive reaction between 2LiBH4 center dot CO2 and CO2. The solid intermediate products with porous structure are formed at the first-step reaction. The newly developed porous solid products serve as the template for the chemical vapor deposition of gaseous intermediate products at the second-step reactions. The self-templated mechanism is demonstrated to form porous templates at initial stage for depositing carbon and boron sources on templates to produce boron-doped porous carbon. As a lithium storage material, it delivers a reversible ca-pacity as high as -1660 mAh/g at 0.2 A/g and -890 mAh/g at 1.0 A/g after 1200 cycles. This finding opens a low-carbon and self-templated strategy to synthesize heteroatom-doped carbon functional materials from CO2.

Automated summary

This study presents a facile self-templated method for synthesizing boron-doped porous carbon derived from CO2. It demonstrates that heteroatom-doped carbon functional materials can be synthesized without CO2 emission from precursor, thus enabling low-carbon utilization of carbon materials.