Acetylene hydrochlorination catalyzed by N/O-doped spiral mesoporous carbonaceous nanospheres

Here, the spiral mesoporous hydrothermal carbonaceous nanospheres (SMHNs) were designed and fabricated from pentose precursors to enhance gas diffusion in acetylene hydrochlorination. Through the optimization of hydrothermal conditions, the optimized SMCNs-800 material showcased the highest catalytic activity with an acetylene conversion of 77% under the condition of GHSV (C 2 H 2 ) = 30 h -1 . The structural analysis indicated that the material with helical structure could provide larger pore sizes and abundant defect sites, exposing more active sites. The structure-activity relationship among acid-base properties of the catalyst surface, the adsorption-desorption capacity for the reactants and the catalytic activity jointly demonstrated that pyridine-N and -C=O could provide abundant basic sites for the adsorption and activation of H-Cl, thus accelerating the process of acetylene hydrochlorination reaction. The SMCNs materials synthesized by self-assembly own straight pore structure and abundant defect sites, exposing more active sites. The abundant N-/O-containing functional groups and special acid-base properties of the SMCNs provided active sites for the adsorption and activation of reactants, jointly accelerating the process of acetylene hydrochlorination. • The SMCNs-NH 3 material exhibited excellent activity for acetylene hydrochlorination; • The helical porous structure of SMCNs-NH 3 displayed larger pore sizes and abundant defect sites; • The abundant oxygen-/nitrogen-containing functional groups and weak acid sites on the surface of the material provided the activation sites for HCl and C 2 H 2