Nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon nanosheets derived from metal-organic frameworks in a molten salt medium for efficient desulfurization

Abstract

In this work, we report a novel synthesis of two-dimensional (2D) N-doped mesoporous carbon nanosheets (NMCS) with high nitrogen content and developed porosity from microporous Zn-based zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) polyhedrons in a molten salt medium. The ZIF precursors allow high nitrogen content of the NMCS while the molten salt medium leads to the formation of 2D nanosheets with mesoporosity during the pyrolysis process. The obtained NMCS exhibit highly catalytic activity in the metal-free catalytic oxidation of H2S toward elemental sulfur at room temperature, high breakthrough sulfur capacity is achieved over NMCS, much superior to that of ZIF-8 derived N-doped porous carbons obtained by direct pyrolysis. The transformation of three-dimensional ZIF-8 into nitrogen-doped 2D carbon nanosheets via molten salt media has great potential for the large-scale and green production of porous carbon nanosheets for highly efficient desulfurization and energy storage-conversion.