Facile template-free synthesis of 3D cluster-like nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon as metal-free catalyst for selective oxidation of H2S

Construction of metal-free carbon-based materials for efficient sulfur resource recovery in pollutant H2S is very critical for both applied environmental catalysis and fundamental material exploration. Herein, we report a template-free hydrothermal method to prepare hierarchical nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon (HNMCs) materials with abundant nitrogen sites and large BET surface area. The representative HNMC-800 achieves a H2S conversion of ∼100% and sulfur selectivity of ∼95% at 150 °C in H2S selective oxidation. Moreover, HNMCs catalysts are resistant to sulfur poisoning, displaying good catalytic durability, with no significant loss of sulfur yield in the run of 80 h, outperforming the pure active carbon, g-C3N4, and commercial Fe2O3. This work provides the possibility of utilizing hierarchical nitrogen-doped carbon materials as metal-free catalysts for the selective oxidation of H2S.