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Heteroatom doped carbon materials (DCM) have gained tremendous attention due to their highly promising applications as well as low costs, therefore, time-/cost-/operation-effective fabrication of doped carbon materials holds great meanings to both scientific and practical fields. Here in this study, metal-free DCM could be fabricated rapidly (<5 min) at room-temperature, which could engage the efficient incorporation of heteroatom during the dechlorination of polyvenyldichloride (PVDC) by strong alkaline (like KOH). Cases of N, S, or P-DCM were investigated as demonstrations, which proofed our strategy being capable of effectively incorporating in-situ dehalogenated carbon sites with any available hetero-elements. Meanwhile, major byproduct, as investigated, were KCl and water, which could be eco-friendly disposed. Since the in-situ dehalogenated carbon sites are very reactive, our strategy should be not limited to the fabrication of single or two heteroelements, and it should fit the synthesis of multiple heteroelement DCM for broad interests of DCM investigations and application explorations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we report a potentially scalable strategy for the cost/time-efficient production of water-soluble functionalized few layered graphene (FcG) through the mild defluorination of graphite fluoride (GF) at room temperature (RT). The strategy includes mechanical milling which is of high simplicity and operability, and subsequently water purification. By using heteroatom-containing alkaline such as NaNH 2 and Na 2 S, N or S dopants can be functionalized into the defluorinated graphene, leading to the formation of N- and S-doped FcG, respectively. Our methodology of defluorination of GF allows the fabrication of water soluble FcG in much safer ways relative to the conventional Hummers' method that involves strong acidic/oxidative ambience and disposal of large amount of salt wastes. Meanwhile, the abundance of GF and the simplicity of processibility may also facilitate the practical uses of FcG obtained via our methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous carbon materials (PCMs) have been extensively investigated as electrode materials for supercapacitors, yet are severely hindered by low capacitance and energy density. Herein, we reported the efficient synthesis of a ternary B, N, P-doped PCM (termed as BNP-C) via polymer dehalogenation strategy. The atomic contents of B, N, and P, as characterized by XPS, are 11.5, 1.1, and 0.8%, respectively, yet intriguingly resulting in limited water splitting activity due to the overwhelmingly presented B dopant. This specific feature can be taken advantage of for effectively expanding the workable voltage window while maintaining large capacitances of aqueous supercapacitors (ASCs). Besides, the BNP-C exhibited porous 3D structure, hierarchical porous structure, and large specific surface area of 1118.5 m2 g−1, which simultaneously ensured the BNP-C-assembled ASC with superior capacitive performance. As confirmed by both Dunn and Trasatti methods, pseudocapacitance remarkably contributed ∼44.9 and ∼40.2% respectively in overall capacitances for the BNP-C, which was mainly credited to the heavy decoration of B. In addition, the BNP-C symmetric ASC delivered very good long-term stability and high specific energy of 12.0 and 10.9 Wh kg−1 in acidic and alkaline electrolytes, respectively. Image 1 • Ternary B, N, P-doped carbon material was obtained via polymer dehalogenation. • High B loading of 11.5 at.% was achieved, which is key to suppress water splitting. • Thanks to heavy heterodoping, pseudocapacitance of BNP-C was much enhanced. • BNP-C rendered high capacitance of 518 F g−1 and maintained ∼260 F g−1 at 100 A g−1. • BNP-C achieved large workable voltage of 1.5 V and high energy of 12.0 Wh kg−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Metal-nitrogen-complexed carbon (MNC) materials have received tremendous attention because of their extraordinary catalytic performance and widely spread applications in the fields of electrocatalysis especially oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Yet currently, an efficient method for the mass production of MNC electrocatalysts under low costs is still lacking. Herein, we explored a facile low-cost route to construct Co-N-decorated carbon (Co-N-C) materials that were capable of providing a considerably higher ORR performance than commercial 20 wt% Pt/C catalyst (comparable activity, higher long-term cycling stability, and tolerance to methanol contamination). The Co-N-C electrocatalysts were mainly facilitated via the efficient dehalogenation of polyvinyl dichloride or polyvinyl chloride and in situ doping with nitrogen and cobalt ions under mild conditions. Besides the rendered promising electrocatalysts for ORR, our developed method may be capable of converting the halogenated polymeric plastic wastes that are massively accumulated in our environment into value-added carbon-based catalytic materials. Graphical abstract Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]