Phosphorus and nitrogen co-doped graphene for catalytic dehydrochlorination of 1,2-dichloroethane

A phosphorus and nitrogen co-doped graphene(PNG)was developed via a two-step pyrolysis approach through the intermedium of g-C_(3)N_(4) template and glyphosate as the phosphorus source,and was used for the catalytic dehydrochlorination of 1,2-dichloroethane(EDC)to vinyl chloride monomer(VCM)production.The characterization results indicate that a volcano relationship of surface area and surface properties with the usage of phosphorus precursor was observed,and the sample of PNG-900-6 possesses not only the thin film structure with enhanced surface area but also the smaller grain size of PNG attachments.Accordingly,such PNGs show a great improvement of catalytic performance in the dehydrochlorination of EDC,and the PNG-900-6 catalyst behaves the best with a 4-times higher activity than that on the nitrogen doped graphene(NG).It was also proved that the synergetic effect of the unique P-C coordination on the graphene to generate more quaternary nitrogen species was crucial in determining the catalytic performance of EDC conversion.Our results demonstrate that the phosphorus and nitrogen co-doped graphene offers many advantages in physical structure and chemical property,and are also great potential on the catalytic application in the dehydrochlorination of 1,2-dichloroethane.