Heteroatom-doped carbon materials derived from ionic liquids for catalytic applications

Abstract Heteroatom-doped carbonaceous materials have been extensively applied in diverse range of applications such as energy storage, separation, chemical and electrical fields as well as catalysis. The application of ionic liquids as heteroatom-containing carbon precursors for the preparation of doped carbon materials is an emerging approach, leading to homogeneous incorporation of heteroatoms into the carbon material with a controlled chemistry. Considering the importance of this class of doped carbons, this chapter is devoted to introduce ILs-derived carbon materials in which the ionic liquids served as precursor-bearing nitrogen atoms. In the first section, conceptual issues such as carbonization mechanism and the effective parameters on the properties of the resulting carbons are discussed. Then, various developed methods for the synthesis of ILs-derived carbons are described. Moreover, as the focus of this book is on the catalysis, some examples of the catalytic utility of ILs-derived carbons are discussed in more details to disclose the merits of these materials. Taking the importance of the porous carbons into account, the porous ILs-derived carbons are also covered in this chapter and the methods for their synthesis as well as their utility as (electro) catalysts are addressed.