Zinc‐Supported Nitrogen‐Rich Carbon Catalyst for Efficient Carbon Dioxide Cycloaddition with Epoxides under Solvent‐Free Conditions

Abstract Developing carbon‐based catalyst with both high efficiency and stability presents an enticing prospect for CO 2 cycloaddition. In this work, zinc‐loaded nitrogen‐rich carbon catalyst (Zn−NC) was fabricated facilely through the wet impregnation and one‐pot pyrolysis method. The Zn−NC coupled with tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) could achieve the high catalytic efficiency with 93% or 98.1% yield of propylene carbonate (PC) in solvent‐free system under mild condition or traditional heating conditions. Excellent recyclability and versatility of Zn−NC catalyst were also observed. Moreover, the influence of calcination temperature on catalyst structure, composition and catalytic performance were investigated, and the catalytic mechanism of CO 2 cycloaddition with Zn−NC and TBAB was legitimately proposed. Herein, this work provided a promising and sustainable insights to prepare high‐efficient and low‐cost carbon‐based catalysts for CO 2 conversion.