Nitrogen-Doped Microporous Carbon Prepared by One-Step Carbonization: Rational Design of a Polymer Precursor for Efficient CO2 Capture

Abstract

Nitrogen-doped microporous carbon using carboxylic acid-functionalized imidazole-type polymers (PDVA) as a carbon precursor was fabricated by a one-step carbonization method without an additional activator. The introduction of acrylic acid was beneficial to promote the formation of microporous structures during the pyrolysis process. By changing the carbonization temperature, the textural properties and surface nitrogen content of the carbon materials were tuned. The synergistic effect of the microporous structure and basic nitrogen sites was conducive to enhancing the CO₂ adsorption performance of porous carbon materials. The CO₂ adsorption quantity of PDVA-C-800 obtained without an additional activator reached 3.18 mmol·g–¹ under 1 bar at 25 °C, which was comparable to that of the reported carbon materials. Besides, PDVA-C-800 possessed excellent cycle stability and recyclability. The fabrication of microporous nitrogen-doped carbon derived from carboxylic acid-functionalized imidazole-type polymers provided an original idea for CO₂ uptake.