Bringing catalytic order out of chaos with nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous carbon

Rationally designing an appropriate support plays significant roles in catalysis through anchoring active sites firmly, enabling fast mass transport, and confining reaction fields. Recently, nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous carbons (NOMCs) are emerging as an intriguing support due to well-defined ordered pore channels, unique confined microenvironment, and abundant N ligands, which create more possibilities of achieving catalytic orders and designing better catalysts. Here, we firstly cover the potentials of NOMCs in designing desirable catalysts with special emphasis on the charac-ters of NOMCs toward catalysis. Then, various synthetic strategies for NOMCs are summarized, including (1) nanocasting, (2) solution collaborative self-assembly, (3) evaporation-induced self-assembly, and (4) solvent-free method. Next, we detail the catalytic applica-tions of NOMCs-based metal-free, metal-nanoparticle, and single -atom catalysts across electrocatalysis and organic synthesis. Finally, we give a perspective for NOMCs about the current challenges and future opportunities confronted in their fundamental research and practical applications.