Magnesium and nitrogen co-doped mesoporous carbon with enhanced microporosity for CO2 adsorption

Abstract

Mesoporous carbons (MC) have attracted a tremendous amount of interest due to their efficient molecular transport properties. However, the limited number of active sites and low microporosity generally impede their use for practical applications. Herein, we have fabricated Mg and N co-doped mesoporous carbon (Mg-NMC) with high microporosity via one-pot synthetic route followed by further steam activation. In comparison with the parent N-doped mesoporous carbon, Mg-NMC shows partially ordered mesostructure and improved CO2 adsorption capacity attributed to the introduction of basic site after Mg doping. Upon further steam activation, the microporosity is enhanced to 37.3%, while the CO2 adsorption capacity is also increased by 70.4% at 273 K and 1.0 bar.