MOF-derived Fe–N–C with interconnected mesoporous structure for halonitrobenzenes hydrogenation: Role of dicyandiamide on the growth of active sites and pore structure

Carbon material derived from certain MOF usually still has plenty of microporous structures, the mass transfer process is severely limited. In this work, in the assistance of dicyandiamide, nitrogen doped carbon confined atomically dispersed Fe species (Fe–N–C) with interconnected mesoporous pores by a facile one-step pyrolysis process of Fe-doped zeolitic imidazolate framework (Fe-doped ZIF) is prepared. Through simply adjusting the amount of dicyandiamide added, Fe–N–C with various morphologies, pore structures and chemical compositions could be obtained. The specific surface area of the materials increases first and then decreases with the increase content of dicyandiamide, and the pore structure also changes accordingly. Fe–N–C possesses the largest specific surface area with interconnected pore structure when the mass ratio of dicyandiamide to Fe-doped ZIF reaches 1:1 (Fe–N–C–1). And Fe–N–C–1 shows the optimal catalytic activity compared with other catalysts for the transfer hydrogenation of halonitrobenzenes. Moreover, the Fe–N–C–1 exhibits good stability and could be reused without obvious decrease of catalytic activity. This work may afford certain thought for rationally designing high-performance catalysts derived from MOF.