Zinc‐Supported Nitrogen‐Rich Carbon Catalyst for Efficient Carbon Dioxide Cycloaddition with Epoxides under Solvent‐Free Conditions

Abstract

Developing carbon‐based catalyst with both high efficiency and stability presents an enticing prospect for CO2 cycloaddition. In this work, zinc‐loaded nitrogen‐rich carbon catalyst (Zn−NC) was fabricated facilely through the wet impregnation and one‐pot pyrolysis method. The Zn−NC coupled with tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) could achieve the high catalytic efficiency with 93% or 98.1% yield of propylene carbonate (PC) in solvent‐free system under mild condition or traditional heating conditions. Excellent recyclability and versatility of Zn−NC catalyst were also observed. Moreover, the influence of calcination temperature on catalyst structure, composition and catalytic performance were investigated, and the catalytic mechanism of CO2 cycloaddition with Zn−NC and TBAB was legitimately proposed. Herein, this work provided a promising and sustainable insights to prepare high‐efficient and low‐cost carbon‐based catalysts for CO2 conversion.