Facile Construction of Mesoporous N-Doped Carbons as Highly Efficient 4-Nitrophenol Reduction Catalysts

Herein we propose a novel insitu N-doping method to develop a new type of mesoporous N-doped carbons constructed by direct pyrolysis of properly rigid strut N-rich metal-organic frameworks at 950 degrees C. This facile fabrication method creates doped N that is evenly dispersed on mesoporous carbons (approximate to 4.0nm) formed simultaneously without the need for a second carbon precursor, external nitrogen supplier, or pore-forming agent. The resulting mesoporous N-doped carbons bear a low N content but a high proportion of graphitic N species and exhibit superior catalytic performance toward the reduction of 4-nitrophenol relative to that shown by previously reported metal catalysts and N-doped graphene. The ensemble effect of the mesostructured framework and effective N doping is responsible for the excellent performance, as better diffusion, adsorption, and activation of 4-nitrophenol in wastewaters are achieved through the elaborately fabricated mesoporous N-doped carbons.