Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2013, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (3): 508-523.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(11)60515-9

• Special Column on Progress in Catalysis in China during • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Research progress in metal-free carbon-based catalysts

SUN Xiaoyana, WANG Ruia,b, SU Dangsheng a   

  1. a Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, Liaoning, China;
    b National Institute of Clean-and-Low-Carbon Energy, Beijing 102211, China
  • Received:2012-11-10 Revised:2013-01-06 Online:2013-04-02 Published:2013-04-03
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21133010, 21103203, and 50921004), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2011CBA00504), and the Thousand Talents Program of the Central Organization Department.

Abstract:

Metal-free carbon-based catalysts are one of the most active research directions in nanomaterials and catalysis. The advantages that nanocarbon catalysts have over metal catalysts include high efficiency, environmental compatibility, low energy consumption, and corrosion resistance. Nanocarbon can efficiently catalyze alkane conversion, chemical synthesis, energy catalysis and other heterogeneous catalytic processes. This review highlights recent progress in the development of metal-free carbon-based catalysts, including understanding their surface properties, catalytic performance and reaction mechanism and macroscopic architecture. The state-of-the-art and future challenges of metal-free heterogeneous catalysis are also discussed.

Key words: Nanocarbon, Metal-free, Heterogeneous catalysis