One-step assembly of N-doped partially graphitic mesoporous carbon for nitrobenzene reduction

•One-step assembling strategy to synthesize N-doped mesoporous carbon.•C16MIMBr was used as the carbon source and the structure-directing agent.•The nitrogen can be incorporated into mesoporous carbon with a content of 3.2 wt%.•The carbon material shows the excellent catalytic performance.

N-doped mesoporous carbon material has been synthesized by a novel one-step assembling strategy using ionic liquid (IL) as the carbon source and structure-directing agent. The obtained mesoporous carbon material has bimodal mesopores (about 3.8 and 9.0 nm) and partially graphitic structure with a BET surface area of 372 m2/g and mesopore volume of 0.61 cm3/g. The nitrogen in the IL precursor can be incorporated into the framework of mesoporous carbon with a content of 3.2 wt%. The obtained carbon material shows excellent catalytic performance for nitrobenzene (NB) reduction reaction with an 88.6% yield to aniline (AN).