High nitrogen carbon material with rich defects as a highly efficient metal-free catalyst for excellent catalytic performance of acetylene hydrochlorination

In this work, we developed a simple strategy to synthesize a carbon material with high nitrogen and rich carbon defects. Our approach polymerized diaminopyridine (DAP) and ammonium persulfate (APS). Following a range of different temperature pyrolysis approaches, the resulting rough surface was shown to exhibit edge defects due to N-doping on graphite carbon. A series of catalysts were evaluated using a variety of characterization techniques and tested for catalytic performance. The catalytic performance of the N-doped carbon material enhanced alongside an increment in carbon defects. The NC-800 catalyst exhibited outstanding catalytic activity and stability in acetylene hydrochlorination (C2H2 GHSV = 30 h−1, at 220 °C, the acetylene conversion rate was 98%), with its stability reaching up to 450 h. Due to NC-800 having a nitrogen content of up to 13.46%, it had the largest specific surface area and a high defect amount, as well as strong C2H2 and HCl adsorption. NC-800 has excellent catalytic activity and stability to reflect its unlimited potential as a carbon material.