Ionic‐Liquid‐Derived Boron‐Doped Cobalt‐Coordinating Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Materials for Enhanced Catalytic Activity

Abstract The structural diversity of ionic liquids can control the properties and structures of carbon materials at the molecular level. A nitrogen and boron codoped and highly crystalline metal porous carbon material was synthesized through cothermal condensation of the [Bmim][BF 4 ] (Bmim=1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium) ionic liquid and cobalt(II) 5,10,15,20‐tetraphenylporphyrin. In this approach, the ionic liquid acted as both a soft template and a heteroatom precursor. The resulting B‐doped Co‐N‐C nanomaterial showed significantly enhanced catalytic performance toward the selective oxidation of ethylbenzene, in that the conversion of ethylbenzene was approximately four times higher than that of the catalyst without the introduced B atoms. Moreover, the CoNCB‐2 catalyst was successfully recycled several times without any significant loss in activity. Such a boron, nitrogen, and metal ternary codoped porous carbon shows promise as a catalyst for chemocatalysis.