Nitrogen-containing porous carbons: synthesis and application

Nitrogen-containing porous carbon materials are ubiquitous with a wide range of technologically important applications, including separation science, heterogeneous catalyst supports, water purification, electrochemistry, as well as the developing areas of energy generation and storage applications. To date, a variety of approaches has been developed and applied to introduce nitrogen into the carbon matrix. It is important and necessary to design and control a hierarchical porous structure and the surface chemical groups of nitrogen-containing porous carbons for their applications. In this work, we summarize and compare recently reported routes for the preparation of nitrogen-containing porous carbon materials and the effect of nitrogen groups on its applications in adsorption, electrochemistry, catalysis/catalyst supports and hydrogen storage properties.