Hydrochlorination of acetylene catalyzed by mesoporous carbon with hierarchical assembly of polyimide nanosheets

Defect sites and nitrogen species in carbon materials directly affect their catalytic activity for acetylene hydrochlorination. However, there is often a negative correlation between the increase of defect sites and nitrogen species. Usually, increasing the density of defect sites by improving the calcination temperature often results in a decrease in the content of nitrogen species. Therefore, it is an important design strategy to improve the active sites of the catalyst by creating abundantly inherent defect sites. In this paper, rosette-like nitrogen doped mesoporous carbon materials (NPCs-T) were synthesized by a self-assembly method. NPCs-T materials have more defect sites than conventional spherical materials. The structure-activity relationship of catalytic performance and nitrogen species demonstrates that pyridine N and pyridinic N+O- are the main active sites. In addition, the synergistic effect of defect sites and suitable nitrogen species is beneficial to the adsorption and activation of acetylene and hydrogen chloride, thus promoting the reaction process of acetylene hydrochlorination. The application of rosette-like mesoporous carbon materials in the hydrochlorination of acetylene leads to outstanding reactivity and stability, stimulating their potential for industrial applications.