Construction of metal-free heteroatoms doped carbon catalysts with certain structure and properties: strategies and methods

Chenlin Zhang; Kaiwen Zheng; Dan Yang; Xiaoqian Ye; Lilong Zhou; Jimmy Yun

doi:10.1007/s42823-025-00903-9

Construction of metal-free heteroatoms doped carbon catalysts with certain structure and properties: strategies and methods

Carbon Letters
Abbr : Carbon Lett.
2025, 35(3), pp.963~985
DOI : 10.1007/s42823-025-00903-9
Publisher : Korean Carbon Society
Research Area : Natural Science > Natural Science General > Other Natural Sciences General
Received : September 12, 2024
Accepted : March 26, 2025
Published : June 5, 2025

Chenlin Zhang ¹, Kaiwen Zheng ¹, Dan Yang ², Xiaoqian Ye ¹, Lilong Zhou ¹, Jimmy Yun ³

¹Hebei University of Science and Technology
²Shaanxi Normal University
³The University of New South Wales

Accredited

ABSTRACT

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the potential applications of carbon-based non-metallic catalysts in various fields, such as electrochemical energy storage, electrocatalysis, thermal catalysis, and photocatalysis, owing to their unique physical and chemical properties. Modifying carbon catalyst surfaces or incorporating non-metallic heteroatoms, such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), boron (B), and sulfur (S), into the carbon structure has emerged as a promising approach to improve the catalytic performance. This method enables the adjustment of the electronic structure of the carbon catalyst's surface, leading to the formation of new active sites or the reduction of side reactions, ultimately enhancing the catalyst's performance. Here, the preparation methods for doped non-metallic heteroatom carbon catalysts have been systematically explored, encompassing techniques, such as impregnation, pyrolysis, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and templating. Finally, the existing challenges in the application of non-metallic atomic catalysts have been discussed, insights into potential future development opportunities and new preparation methods of carbon catalysts in the future have been offered.

KEYWORDS

Carbon catalysts, Heteroatoms, Surficial chemistry, Preparation methods

Citation status

This is the result of checking the information with the same ISSN, publication year, volume, and start page between the WoS and the KCI journals. (as of 2026-07-09)

Total Citation Counts(KCI+WOS) (6) This is the number of times that the duplicate count has been removed by comparing the citation list of WoS and KCI.

* References for papers published after 2025 are currently being built.

[journal] Zhang HY / 2020 / Functional carbon nitride materials for water oxidation: from heteroatom doping to interface engineering / Nanoscale 12(13) : 6937~6952

[journal] Duan XG / 2018 / Metal-free carbocatalysis in advanced oxidation reactions / Acc Chem Res 51(3) : 678~687

[journal] Hu C / 2019 / Carbon-based metal-free catalysts for energy storage and environmental remediation / Adv Mater 31(13)

[journal] Qi W / 2018 / Oxidative dehydrogenation on nanocarbon: insights into the reaction mechanism and kinetics via in situ experimental methods / Acc Chem Res 51(3) : 640~648

[journal] Sangon S / 2018 / Valorisation of waste rice straw for the production of highly effective carbon based adsorbents for dyes removal / J Clean Prod 172 : 1128~1139

[journal] Dehmani Y / 2022 / Adsorption removal of phenol by oak wood charcoal activated carbon / Biomass Convers Biorefinery 14(6) : 8015~8027

[journal] Martin-Martinez M / 2017 / Lignin-based activated carbons as metal-free catalysts for the oxidative degradation of 4-nitrophenol in aqueous solution / Appl Catal B 219 : 372~378

[journal] Dastgheib SA / 2020 / NO oxidation by activated carbon catalysts: impact of carbon characteristics, pressure, and the presence of water / ACS Omega 5(33) : 21172~21180

[journal] Du S / 2023 / Bamboo derived activated carbon as a highly efficient catalyst for the oxidation and adsorption of hydrogen sulfide at room temperature / Environ Sci Nano 10(7) : 1907~1919

[journal] Gupta NK / 2016 / Nitrogen modified carbon nano-materials as stable catalysts for phosgene synthesis / ACS Catal 6(9) : 5843~5855

[journal] Wu S / 2021 / Recent progress of carbon-based metal-free materials in thermal-driven catalysis / J Energy Chem 58 : 318~335

[journal] Zhai Y / 2018 / Synergetic effect of B and O dopants for aerobic oxidative coupling of amines to imines / ACS Sustain Chem Eng 6(12) : 17410~17418

[journal] Yang F / 2017 / P-doped nanomesh graphene with high-surface-area as an efficient metal-free catalyst for aerobic oxidative coupling of amines / Carbon 121 : 443~451

[journal] Xiong W / 2020 / Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes as a highly active metal-free catalyst for nitrobenzene hydrogenation / Appl Catal B Environ 260

[journal] Guo F / 2017 / Carbon-doped BN nanosheets for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene / Angew Chem Int Ed 56(28) : 8231~8235

[journal] Zhang J / 2021 / Defect and doping co-engineered non-metal nanocarbon ORR electrocatalyst / Nano-Micro Lett 13(1)

[journal] Huang D / 2018 / A novel method to significantly boost the electrocatalytic activity of carbon cloth for oxygen evolution reaction / Carbon 129 : 468~475

[journal] García-Dalí S / 2023 / Green and easy synthesis of P-doped carbon-based hydrogen evolution reaction electrocatalysts / Carbon 212

[journal] Zhang J / 2023 / Electrochemical CO2 reduction over copper phthalocyanine derived catalysts with enhanced selectivity for multicarbon products / ACS Catal

[journal] Wang J / 2020 / A metal-free catalyst: sulfur-doped and sulfur nanoparticle-modified CMK-3 as an electrocatalyst for enhanced N2-fixation / New J Chem 44(48) : 20935~20939

[journal] Elsawy H /

[journal] Gacka E / 2021 / Effect of graphene oxide flakes size and number of layers on photocatalytic hydrogen production / Sci Rep 11(1)

[journal] Lu K-Q / Rationally designed transition metal hydroxide nanosheet arrays on graphene for artificial CO2 reduction / Nat Commun 11(1)

[journal] Kuang Y / 2019 / Photoactivated graphene oxide to enhance photocatalytic reduction of CO2 / ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 12(3) : 3580~3591

[journal] Wang H / 2020 / Polymer-derived heteroatom-doped porous carbon materials / Chem Rev 120(17) : 9363~9419

[journal] Feng L / Boron-, sulfur-, and phosphorus-doped graphene for environmental applications / Sci Total Environ

[journal] Asefa T / 2017 / Frontispiece: heteroatom-doped carbon materials for electrocatalysis / Chem Euro J 23(45)

[journal] Jaryal VB / 2023 / Metal-free carbon-based nanomaterials: insights from synthesis to applications in sustainable catalysis / ACS Sustain Chem Eng 11(41) : 14841~14865

[journal] Li M / 2016 / Nitrogen-doped porous carbon materials: promising catalysts or catalyst supports for heterogeneous hydrogenation and oxidation / Catal Sci Technol 6(11) : 3670~3693

[journal] Kiciński W / 2014 / Sulfur-doped porous carbons: synthesis and applications / Carbon 68 : 1~32

[journal] Wei Q / 2019 / Coal tar-and residual oil-derived porous carbon as metal-free catalyst for nitroarene reduction to aminoarene / Carbon 141 : 542~552

[journal] Li Y / 2021 / Phosphorus-doped activated carbon catalyst for n-hexane dehydroaromatization reaction / Catalysis Commun 156

[journal] Martin-Martinez M / 2018 / Exploring the activity of chemical-activated carbons synthesized from peach stones as metal-free catalysts for wet peroxide oxidation / Catal Today 313 : 20~25

[journal] Farabi MSA / 2019 / Esterification of palm fatty acid distillate using sulfonated carbon-based catalyst derived from palm kernel shell and bamboo / Energy Convers Manage 181 : 562~570

[journal] Jamil F / Evaluation of synthesized green carbon catalyst from waste date pits for tertiary butylation of phenol / Arab J Chem 13(1) : 298~307

[journal] Shi L / 2018 / Carbon nitride modified nanocarbon materials as efficient non-metallic catalysts for alkane dehydrogenation / Catal Today 301 : 48~54

[journal] Yin R / 2017 / Heteroatoms doped graphene for catalytic ozonation of sulfamethoxazole by metal-free catalysis: performances and mechanisms / Chem Eng J 317 : 632~639

[journal] Godino-Ojer M / 2020 / Acidic porous carbons involved in the green and selective synthesis of benzodiazepines / Catal Today 357 : 64~73

[journal] Zhou L / 2019 / Selective oxidation of methacrolein to methacrylic acid on carbon catalysts / Catal Commun 126 : 44~49

[journal] Zhao Q / 2017 / Metal-free carbon materials-catalyzed sulfate radical-based advanced oxidation processes: a review on heterogeneous catalysts and applications / Chemosphere 189 : 224~238

[journal] Long J / 2012 / Nitrogen-doped graphene nanosheets as metal-free catalysts for aerobic selective oxidation of benzylic alcohols / ACS Catal 2(4) : 622~631

[journal] Watanabe H / 2015 / Nitrogen-doped, metal-free activated carbon catalysts for aerobic oxidation of alcohols / ACS Catal 5(5) : 2886~2894

[journal] Li S / 2019 / N-doped 3D mesoporous carbon/carbon nanotubes monolithic catalyst for H2S selective oxidation / ACS Appl Nano Mater 2(6) : 3780~3792

[journal] Meng J / 2021 / High-loading, well-dispersed phosphorus confined on nanoporous carbon surfaces with enhanced catalytic activity and cyclic stability / Small Methods 5(12)

[journal] Wang Y / 2011 / Synthesis of boron doped polymeric carbon nitride solids and their use as metal-free catalysts for aliphatic C-H bond oxidation / Chem Sci 2(3) : 446~450

[journal] Sheng J / 2020 / Nonmetallic boron nitride embedded graphitic carbon catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene / Catal Sci Technol 10(6) : 1809~1815

[journal] Liu Y / 2018 / Structure-performance relationship of nanodiamonds @ nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon in the direct dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene / Catal Today 301 : 38~47

[journal] Li S / 2020 / Defect enriched N-doped carbon nanoflakes as robust carbocatalysts for H2S selective oxidation / J Mater Chem A 8(18) : 8892~8902

[journal] Lei G / 2019 / Exfoliation of graphitic carbon nitride for enhanced oxidative desulfurization: a facile and general strategy / ACS Sustain Chem Eng 7(5) : 4941~4950

[journal] Huang R / 2019 / N-Doped carbon nanofibers derived from bacterial cellulose as an excellent metal-free catalyst for selective oxidation of arylalkanes / Chem Commun 55(13) : 1935~1938

[journal] Hua M / 2021 / Highly efficient oxidative cyanation of aldehydes to nitriles over Se, S, N-tri-doped hierarchically porous carbon nanosheets / Angew Chem Int Ed 60(39) : 21479~21485

[journal] Hu X / 2020 / Template-free synthesis of graphene-like carbons as efficient carbocatalysts for selective oxidation of alkanes / Green Chem 22(4) : 1291~1300

[journal] Rao KTV / 2021 / Nitrogen-doped carbon: a metal-free catalyst for selective oxidation of crude 5-hydroxymethylfurfural obtained from high fructose corn syrup (HFCS-90) to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) / Chem Eng J 404

[journal] Teng N / 2019 / The selective aerobic oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural to produce 2,5-diformylfuran using nitrogen-doped porous carbons as catalysts / New Carbon Mater 34(6) : 593~599

[journal] Zhang H / 2020 / A carbon catalyst Co-doped with P and N for efficient and selective oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural into 2,5-diformylfuran / Chemsuschem 14(1) : 456~466

[journal] Yang J / 2020 / Honeycomb-like porous carbon with N and S dual-doping as metal-free catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction / Carbon 156 : 514~522

[journal] Zeng X / 2024 / N and P co-doped graphene-like carbon nanosheet as metal-free catalyst for selective oxidation of methacrolein to methacrylic acid: high methacrylic acid selectivity / Appl Surface Sci : 644~

[journal] Yang C / 2020 / N-rich carbon catalysts with economic feasibility for the selective oxidation of hydrogen sulfide to sulfur / Environ Sci Technol 54(19) : 12621~12630

[journal] Guo Y / 2018 / Catalytic oxidation of aqueous organic contaminants by persulfate activated with sulfur-doped hierarchically porous carbon derived from thiophene / Appl Catal B 220 : 635~644

[journal] Ramasahayam SK / 2014 / Microwave assisted synthesis and characterization of silicon and phosphorous co-doped carbon as an electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction / RSC Adv 4(12)

[journal] Yang Z / 2018 / Production of renewable alkyl-phenols from catalytic pyrolysis of Douglas fir sawdust over biomass-derived activated carbons / Appl Energy 220 : 426~436

[journal] Wu Q / 2020 / From cellulose to 1,2,4-benzenetriol via catalytic degradation over a wood-based activated carbon catalyst / Catal Sci Technol 10(10) : 3423~3432

[journal] Patel M / 2015 / Rapid transformation of biomass compounds to metal free catalysts via short microwave irradiation

[journal] Lam SS / 2018 / Microwave pyrolysis with steam activation in producing activated carbon for removal of herbicides in agricultural surface water / Ind Eng Chem Res 58(2) : 695~703

[journal] Christina Nilavu M / 2023 / Expeditious microwave assisted green synthesis of phosphorous doped carbon obtained from Mangifera indica for adsorptive desulfurization of fuel / Fuel 345

[journal] Kim T / 2014 / Microwave heating of carbon-based solid materials / Carbon Lett 15(1) : 15~24

[journal] Beneroso D / 2017 / Microwave pyrolysis of biomass for bio-oil production: scalable processing concepts / Chem Eng J 316 : 481~498

[journal] Huang Y-F / 2016 / A review on microwave pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass / Sustain Environ Res 26(3) : 103~109

[journal] Haque KE / 1999 / Microwave energy for mineral treatment processes-a brief review 57(1) : 1~24

[journal] Robinson J / 2022 / Unravelling the mechanisms of microwave pyrolysis of biomass / Chem Eng J 430

[journal] Zaini MAA / 2013 / Critical issues in microwave-assisted activated carbon preparation / J Anal Appl Pyrol 101 : 238~241

[journal] Li Y / 2018 / Fabrication of the phosphorus doped mesoporous carbon with superior capacitive performance by microwave irradiation under ambient atmosphere: an ultra-facile and energy-efficient method / Appl Surf Sci 458 : 119~128

[journal] Patel MA / 2016 / P-doped porous carbon as metal free catalysts for selective aerobic oxidation with an unexpected mechanism / ACS Nano 10(2) : 2305~2315

[journal] Patel MA / 2017 / P and S dual-doped graphitic porous carbon for aerobic oxidation reactions: enhanced catalytic activity and catalytic sites / Carbon 114 : 383~392

[journal] Zhou L / 2023 / Promotion effects of P and S for catalytic oxidation of methacrolein to methacrylic acid over heteroatoms doped carbon catalysts / Chem Eng Sci 272

[journal] Kumar NS / Microwave mode of heating in the preparation of porous carbon materials for adsorption and energy storage applications-an overview / Renew Sustain Energy Rev 124

[journal] Wahi R / 2017 / Chemically treated microwave-derived biochar: an overview / Biomass Bioenergy 107 : 411~421

[journal] Mašek O / 2013 / Microwave and slow pyrolysis biochar-comparison of physical and functional properties / J Anal Appl Pyrol 100 : 41~48

[journal] Wen G / 2016 / Hydrothermal carbon enriched with oxygenated groups from biomass glucose as an efficient carbocatalyst / Angew Chem 129(2) : 615~619

[journal] Ren X / 2018 / Synergic mechanism of adsorption and metal-free catalysis for phenol degradation by N-doped graphene aerogel / Chemosphere 191 : 389~399

[journal] Wataniyakul P / 2018 / Preparation of hydrothermal carbon acid catalyst from defatted rice bran / Ind Crops Prod 117 : 286~294

[journal] He X / Hydrothermal and pyrolytic conversion of biomasses into catalysts for advanced oxidation treatments / Adv Funct Mater 31(7)

[journal] Jung D / 2020 / Calculating the reaction order and activation energy for the hydrothermal carbonization of fructose / Chem Ing Tec 92(6) : 692~700

[journal] Hansen LJ / 2020 / Impact of hydrothermal carbonization on combustion properties of residual biomass / Biomass Convers Biorefinery 12(7) : 2541~2552

[journal] Nicolae SA / 2020 / Recent advances in hydrothermal carbonisation: from tailored carbon materials and biochemicals to applications and bioenergy / Green Chem 22(15) : 4747~4800

[journal] Lathiya DR / 2018 / Synthesis of sulfonated carbon catalyst from waste orange peel for cost effective biodiesel production / Bioresour Technol Rep 2 : 69~76

[journal] Tang Z-E / 2018 / Synthesis of biomass as heterogeneous catalyst for application in biodiesel production: state of the art and fundamental review / Renew Sustain Energy Rev 92 : 235~253

[journal] Simsir H / 2017 / Hydrothermal carbonization for the preparation of hydrochars from glucose, cellulose, chitin, chitosan and wood chips via low-temperature and their characterization / Biores Technol 246 : 82~87

[journal] Funke A / 2010 / Hydrothermal carbonization of biomass: a summary and discussion of chemical mechanisms for process engineering / Biofuels Bioprod Biorefin 4(2) : 160~177

[journal] Suwelack KU / 2016 / Prediction of gaseous, liquid and solid mass yields from hydrothermal carbonization of biogas digestate by severity parameter / Biomass Convers Biorefinery 6(2) : 151~160

[journal] Liu P / 2019 / Synthesizing multilayer graphene from amorphous activated carbon via ammonia-assisted hydrothermal method / Carbon 152 : 24~32

[journal] Lyu SC / 2011 / Synthesis of boron-doped double-walled carbon nanotubes by the catalytic decomposition of tetrahydrofuran and triisopropyl borate / Carbon 49(5) : 1532~1541

[journal] Xu L / 2012 / Fabrication and microstructure of boron-doped isotropic pyrolytic carbon / Carbon 50(12) : 4705~4710

[journal] Su Y / 2020 / New understanding of selective aerobic oxidation of ethylbenzene catalyzed by nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes / ChemCatChem 13(2) : 646~655

[journal] Wang J / 2019 / Mesoporous carbon with high content of graphitic nitrogen for selective oxidation of ethylbenzene / RSC Adv 9(48) : 28253~28257

[journal] Lin Y / 2019 / Highly efficient metal-free nitrogen-doped nanocarbons with unexpected active sites for aerobic catalytic reactions / ACS Nano 13(12) : 13995~14004

[journal] Drosos C / 2018 / Advancements, challenges and prospects of chemical vapour pressure at atmospheric pressure on vanadium dioxide structures / Materials 11(3)

[journal] Vernardou D. / 2020 / Special issue: advances in chemical vapor deposition / Materials 13(18)

[journal] Qing F / 2019 / Chemical vapor deposition synthesis of graphene films / APL Mater 7(2)

[journal] Gao Y / 2013 / Nitrogen-doped sp2-hybridized carbon as a superior catalyst for selective oxidation / Angew Chem Int Ed 52(7) : 2109~2113

[journal] Mirhosseyni MS / 2022 / Metal-free aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohols over the selective N, P dual-doped hollow carbon sphere as the efficient and sustainable heterogeneous catalyst under mild reaction condition / Microporous Mesoporous Mater 329

[journal] Yang S / 2016 / Nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur co-doped hollow carbon shell as superior metal-free catalyst for selective oxidation of aromatic alkanes / Angew Chem 128(12) : 4084~4088

[journal] Nda-Umar UI / 2021 / Organosulfonic acid-functionalized biomass-derived carbon as a catalyst for glycerol acetylation and optimization studies via response surface methodology / J Taiwan Inst Chem Eng 118 : 355~370

[journal] Zang Z / 2020 / Catalytic performance of benzoxazine derived ordered mesoporous carbon materials for the selective oxidation of 2-methylnaphthalene / New J Chem 44(40) : 17422~17430

[journal] Kamali F / 2019 / Nanorod carbon nitride as a carbo catalyst for selective oxidation of hydrogen sulfide to sulfur / J Hazard Mater 364 : 218~226

[journal] Li K / 2018 / The synthesis of N, S-codoped ordered mesoporous carbon as an efficient metal-free catalyst for selective oxidation of arylalkanes / Catal Commun 112 : 39~42

[journal] Goscianska J / 2020 / A facile post-synthetic modification of ordered mesoporous carbon to get efficient catalysts for the formation of acetins / Catal Today 357 : 84~93

[journal] Su J / 2020 / A controllable soft-templating approach to synthesize mesoporous carbon microspheres derived from d-xylose via hydrothermal method / J Mater Sci Technol 38 : 183~188

[journal] Xue B / 2018 / Knoevenagel condensation reactions catalyzed by nitrogen-containing mesoporous carbon materials under mild reaction conditions / Res Chem Intermed 44(12) : 7641~7655

[journal] Gupta N / 2017 / Metal-free oxidation of glycerol over nitrogen-containing carbon nanotubes / Chemsuschem 10(15) : 3030~3034

[journal] Cao Y / 2013 / Nitrogen-, phosphorous-and boron-doped carbon nanotubes as catalysts for the aerobic oxidation of cyclohexane / Carbon 57 : 433~442

[journal] Liu W / 2019 / Oxidative dehydrogenation on nanocarbon: effect of heteroatom doping / Appl Catal B Environ 258

KJCKorea
Journal Central

Carbon Letters 2025 KCI Impact Factor : 0.73 KCI-WoS Impact Factor : 6.26

Construction of metal-free heteroatoms doped carbon catalysts with certain structure and properties: strategies and methods

ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS

Citation status

This is the result of checking the information with the same ISSN, publication year, volume, and start page between the WoS and the KCI journals. (as of 2026-07-09)

Total Citation Counts(KCI+WOS) (6) This is the number of times that the duplicate count has been removed by comparing the citation list of WoS and KCI.

* References for papers published after 2025 are currently being built.

Carbon Letters 2025 KCI Impact Factor : 0.73 KCI-WoS Impact Factor : 6.26

Construction of metal-free heteroatoms doped carbon catalysts with certain structure and properties: strategies and methods

ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS

Statistics

Tools

Issue List

Citation status

KCI Citation Counts (0)

WoS Citation Counts (6) This is the result of checking the information with the same ISSN, publication year, volume, and start page between the WoS and the KCI journals. (as of 2026-07-09)

Total Citation Counts(KCI+WOS) (6) This is the number of times that the duplicate count has been removed by comparing the citation list of WoS and KCI.

REFERENCES (112) * References for papers published after 2025 are currently being built.

Search PDF

Citation

This is the result of checking the information with the same ISSN, publication year, volume, and start page between the WoS and the KCI journals. (as of 2026-07-09)

* References for papers published after 2025 are currently being built.