Zn-Co@N-Doped Carbon Derived from ZIFs for High-Efficiency Synthesis of Ethyl Methyl Carbonate: The Formation of ZnO and the Interaction between Co and Zn

In this work, a series of Zn-Co@N-doped carbon materials were prepared by pyrolysis of Co/Zn-ZIF precursors under a N2 atmosphere and used for high-efficiency synthesis of ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC) from dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and diethyl carbonate (DEC). The Co to Zn molar ratio and calcination temperature were varied to study the physical and chemical properties of Zn-Co@N-doped carbon materials identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), inductively coupled plasma (ICP), thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and temperature programmed desorption (TPD) analysis. It was deduced that the formation of a ZnO crystalline structure and the interaction between zinc and cobalt providing weak basic sites and strong basic sites, respectively, in different samples significantly affected their catalytic performance. The catalyst activated the reaction most effectively when the Co to Zn molar ratio was 1.0 and calcination temperature was 600 °C. With the DMC to DEC molar ratio controlled at 1:1, a superior yield of around 51.50% of product EMC can be gained over catalyst ZnCo/NC-600 at 100 °C with 1 wt% catalyst loading in 7 h.