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.