Heteroatoms co-doped porous carbons from amino acid based polybenzoxazine for superior CO2 adsorption and electrochemical performances

• A new strategy to synthesis bio-based polybenzoxazine was proposed by choosing amino acid as amine source. • Thermal properties of the amino acid-containing bio-based benzoxazine have highly been enhanced. • The obtained carbon materials from amino acid-containing bio-based benzoxazines possessed CO 2 capacity of 6.78 mmol/g and specific capacitance of 310 F/g. A series of N, O, and S heteroatomic doped porous carbon were developed by fabricating bio-based benzoxazine resin precursors from cysteine and phenols. The bio-based benzoxazines were successfully prepared with their structure confirmed by NMR, FTIR, and Mass spectra. The ring-opening curing mechanism was explored by DSC and FTIR spectroscopy with a low onset temperature of 188 °C. The polybenzoxazine, poly(Ph-cysme), exhibited 5% weight loss temperature as high as 350 °C. The as-synthesized carbon materials after pyrolysis possessed rich heteroatom content (up to 17.89%) and high specific surface area (1810 m 2 g −1 ), which led to a high CO 2 adsorption capacity of 6.78 mmol/g at 800 mmHg, 273 K and excellent stability. Furthermore, the prepared carbon material exhibited a superior electrochemical performance as anode for supercapacitors with a specific capacitance of 310 and 221 F g −1 in 6 M KOH at a current density of 0.1 and 1 A g −1 , respectively. This work provides a new strategy for the further development of carbon material precursors in the future.